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Project Contributions

To the Moon, taking the bypass...

Nolo Contendere: Team Cringely makes a course correction on its way to the Moon.

There are reasons to go to the Moon, without the stipulations of the X-Prize committee.
Visit pbs.org/cringely for the latest details announced May 30, 2008.

Team Cringely Contacts

General Team Resources

Planning
  • Gary Elston (glee) Moon_at_PortableBytes.com
  • Shachar Tal (shachar) shachar_at_gridify_com
  • Bill Good (billgood) bgood_at_inceptual.com
  • Doug Budzak (Dj Budzak) doug_at_dougbudzak.com
  • writing services
Design/Identity
  • Jeremy Huggins jhuggins_at_gmail.com
  • Steve Dorsey steve_at_dorseygraphics.com

We'll need a logo and business paper package (letterhead, cards, etc). I'm a designer, and can work on it. Does anyone else want to be a part of that? A good printer willing to cut us some deals will help. What feel do we want? Retro? Techy? Sophisticated? Let's hear some ideas. [ My wife is a graphic designer. I'll be happy to bounce your drafts off of her and get her vibe. ]

  • Eric Browning creator1326_at_gmail.com. I too am a designer, I have included two concept logos HERE
Hardware

Kenny Bain (kennybain) kenny_@_fastlineisp.com I would like to assist in developing the communications systems used for all aspects of the project

  • General Class license - (K5WFI) 15 years experience. I have used digital modes of communications since 1993
  • Owner of established ISP that was the first US company to deploy a LocustWorld mesh network in 2003

Russ Marshall russ_@_russmarshall.com (KE4NGK) is also interested in communications.

Mark Williams ( ) racerx_at_markw.net Available to assist with communications systems...

  • Engineering hardware / software
  • Embedded platforms
  • Autonomous Robotics


Funding and Sponsors

  • This project will require about $5 million, which is not a lot of money to earn a $20 million prize but is otherwise a LOT of money. The way we will raise most of this money is through a combination of underwriters and investors. Underwriters, like NASCAR sponsors, do it for the publicity and advertising potential. Does this mean our rockets will carry lots of stickers? YES.
  • If the overall project budget is $5 million, then each shot has an operational budget of around $250,000. Out of that we have to pay for all fuel and lift costs, the rover, communications and the rocket itself. Basically we are firing rocket/missiles at the moon and waiting to see if any of our 20 shots survive.
Merchandising

Yes, we'll have t-shirts and coffee mugs and probably advertising on our web site, but that's small change for a project like this one.

Underwriter/Sponsorship Packages

[ Other potential interesting way of attracting money through sponsorship: instead of stickers, family photos to be left on the Moon like Charlie Duke's family photo : http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4223/p281.jpg . The idea is to use the rover camera to take a photo of these stickers, messages and other photos on the surface of the moon. Other ideas that do not take too much space include storing names, etc... on parts of the memory used by the rover computer and have people pay for their information to be uploaded to that disk]

[ If longer-term lunar survival is likely, then I suggest setting up a web server on The Moon. Rather than just store the names in memory, display them from the surface of the moon to a browser anywhere on earth, with "Live from the Moon" camera pictures available. We may also see the 2nd place team coming over the horizon with appropriate slanderous notation on the page. My name is stored somewhere on 2 CD's on Mars. Not impressive. Charlie Duke family picture 30 years later - impressive. But allow me (and everyone in the world) to see your name on the Moon - live - now that's worth paying a couple of bucks. Photos will be heavy, but a few extra GB of Flash - almost no extra cost in weight. 2 million people at $5 each - that's barely more than milk money. ]

I think that the google "cached data" is actually a photo album. Google is already selling spots for $10; see http://www.lunarlegacy.org/index.htm

[ Nice finding, for the google "cached data", however, I think there should be a premium for having an actual photos brought on the surface of the Moon ]

Project Planning

Requirements

We should probably start with the contest, itself, since it controls the broadest of requirements:


COMPETITION GUIDELINES: To win the Google Lunar X PRIZE (Grand Prize of $20,000,000), a team must successfully land a privately funded craft on the lunar surface and survive long enough to complete the mission goals of roaming about the lunar surface for at least 500 meters and sending a defined data package, called a “Mooncast”, back to Earth.

MOONCAST: The Mooncast consists of digital data that must be collected and transmitted to the Earth composed of the following:

  • High resolution 360º panoramic photographs taken on the surface of the Moon;
  • Self portraits of the rover taken on the surface of the Moon;
  • Near-real time videos showing the craft’s journey along the lunar surface;
  • High Definition (HD) video;
  • Transmission of a cached set of data, loaded on the craft before launch (e.g. first email from the Moon).
  • Receiving data from Earth and retransmitting back to the Earth from the Moon's surface.

Teams will be required to send a Mooncast detailing their arrival on the lunar surface, and a second Mooncast that provides imagery and video of their journey roaming the lunar surface. All told, the Mooncasts will represent approximately a Gigabyte of stunning content returned to the Earth.


EXTRA CREDIT: Bonus prizes worth $5,000,000 will be awarded for completing a number of extended tasks:

  • Range Bonus Prize: Roving a distance greater than 5,000 meters in a straight line, or an approved series of connected waypoints. Note for this requirement, all other requirements must be met.;
  • Heritage Bonus Prize: Imaging man-made artifacts e.g., previous landers such as Apollo hardware;
  • Water Detection Bonus Prize: Discovering water ice on the moon;
  • Survival Bonus Prize: Surviving through a lunar night (slightly over 2 weeks on Earth).
  • Diversity Bonus Prize: In the Google Lunar X Prize announcement video, there is a mention of a bonus for maximizing ethnic, age, and gender diversity. The guidelines state the following "The Diversity Bonus Prize may be awarded to the TEAM that most successfully demonstrates diversity of TEAM membership and participation. Diversity of nationality, gender, ethnicity, and other factors may be considered."


The complete Google Lunar X PRIZE Competition Guidelines are available in English, the official language of the prize, on the Google Lunar X PRIZE homepage.

Design

Testing

System Integration

Connect the Crawler bone and Airbag bone to the Lander bone, the Lander bone to the Payload bone, the Payload bone to the Rocket bone, the Rocket bone to the MiG bone. Stick the pilot into the MiG.

But first, make all the parts of each piece work correctly amongst themselves.

Systems

Preflight

System Diagnostic & Testing

Launch

Communications

Ground Takeoff

Launch Vehicle Separation

Earth Atmospheric Operation

Communications

Tasks

Propulsion

Navigation

Guidance

The Payload

A self-unfurling Team Cringely flag, eh?

Oh yeah, better include landers and rovers, communications backbone, power, water (so we can find it later), the Google Lunar X Prize bowling trophy hardware, sun glasses and a parka (I hear it gets cold at night).

Maybe some fireworks to launch at night to show we are still alive? Send back those images for a little one-upsmanship.

Earth to Moon Transition

Communications

Imaging

No imaging requirements for this phase. However, taking video of the departure and journey would prove systems are go before we reach the Moon. This might impact Lander and Rover mounting and housing so the cameras are not focused on the interior of any shielding.

Propulsion

We have two options for getting to the Moon. We can go for an initial Earth orbit, then leave Earth orbit for the Moon, or we can go from Earth to a direct trajectory to the Moon.

For exiting an Earth orbit, we need the rocket engine to be able to shut-down and restart, at least once.

For a direct trajectory, we may get by without restarting the engine, but will need guidance thrusters to fine-tune the course. The need to restart the main engine will be determined by how accurate we are on the required path to the Moon. I suggest we don't dare presume we'll be accurate enough.

A restartable main engine seems to be mandatory.

Once we get to the Moon, we need to decelerate the landing craft. It would be beneficial to have the power of the main engine and fuel available for this maneuver.

Guidance thrusters are a given to change roll, pitch and yaw. Allow for tumble-compensation if things really get out of control. Change the spacecraft attitude so the main engine firing will propel us in the right direction.

In-Space Navigation

Celestial navigation is about our only option here. Using relative fix points of the Earth, Moon, Sun, and stars to determine where we are in space-time.

Can we be accurate enough on our Earth departure to set a course for the Moon, requiring no mid-course corrections? It would appear that space agencies cannot accomplish this, so we shouldn't count on it ourselves. (Sure would make it easy on guidance, however.)

There are off the shelf star-tracking devices, that are very lightweight. They are durable, hardened, and solid state, although cost figures are somewhat hard to come by... look here: http://www.oss.goodrich.com/StarTrackers.shtml

Guidance

Payload Preparation

Lunar Insertion

Communications

Braking

I wonder if the spent rocket body / fuel tank(s) might be useful as brakes? Maybe crush or explode the rocket beneath the payload as a way to soften its impact?

Guidance

Lunar Operation

Base Goals

There are three defined mandatory tasks required. These are our primary goals.

  • Soft-land a privately funded craft on the lunar surface;
  • Roam over the lunar surface a minimum of 500 meters;
  • Transmit a defined data package, also know as a Mooncast, back to mother Earth.

Power

Once on the lunar surface, we need power for roaming, data transmission, and imaging. How do we power the wheels and steer the rover? Do we want a directional ability on the imaging? Each requires more power. Do we use only electrical power? Can airbags be used to supply useful power (action / reaction of escaping gas)?

  • Imaging - do we need to aim?
    • Stills
    • Video
  • Communications
    • Rover radio - 802.11?
      • 802.11 (a or g) are affordable, reliable, and well suited for transmission of our HD camera feed
    • Base Station radio - is it required?
      • If it is present, the rover can use a low power radio (and conserve battery power) to communicate with the base.
      • If it is not present, the rover must communicate back to the Earth direct
      • Most likely, it should be present. One thing that needs to be considered - ideally the base will have a directional antenna to enhance the sending and receiving of data to Earth
    • What is the power requirement of a radio signal in order to be picked up by the ATA?
  • Roaming
    • Powering across the surface
    • Steering mechanism
    • Navigating away from the lander

Communications

Minimum communication requires that we send the required data from the moon back to earth, and allow for reception of 10 MB of data (determined by X Prize Foundation) from Earth while on the Moon's surface, with subsequent transmission back to Earth. The SETI Institute's Allen Telescope Array is providing the downlink services at no cost to all competing teams. We should plan on using this service.

In addition to the Images and Video transmission requirements, there are other data requirements specified by the X Prize Foundation that impact communications. These "XPF (X Prize Foundation) Set Asides" as they are called, will be provided to Team Cringely no later than 6 weeks before planned launch for loading onto the landing craft. They include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • A prerecorded video message to be sent as the first video greeting sent from the surface of the Moon.
  • An audio track to be sent as a voice-over of video shot on the surface of the Moon.
  • An e-mail message to be sent as the first email message sent from the surface of the Moon.
  • A text message to be sent as the first text message sent from the surface of the Moon.

Other issues with communications:

  • Uplink services - We MUST communicate from earth TO the moon to satisfy the requirement for uploading 10MB of XPF data. What level of communication do we want for steering the rover, mid-course corrections, and rocket firing for example? The Moon is close enough that we could "drive" everything from Earth. Do we want to? Alternatively, do we want hands-off, autonomous operation? SETI is silent on the cost of uplink services.
  • Data relay - Do we send directly from the moon's surface from the rover? Do we relay to a more powerful radio on the rover? Or do we relay to a more powerful radio on a satellite that we put into Lunar orbit?
  • Power - The higher the power requirement, the heavier the supporting equipment. This increases the weight that must be landed, and depending on our final architecture, the weight (particularly for the batteries and antenna) that must move around the surface.
  • Failure - How can we determine from the Lunar surface that we are broadcasting to Earth without a return signal from the earth? We need a ping back from the receiving stations. It need not be real-time. What do we do to correct a problem such as missing portions of a transmission?
  • For speed, we should burst the data between the moon and earth without a synchronous two-way protocol. For accuracy, we should build in some error-detection and error-correction into the data. This will increase the volume of data, but may make retransmission unnecessary.
  • Method - Can we use optics for communications?

Realizing that greater complexity transposes into increased chance of failure, we must keep this as simple as we can.

Imaging

The requirements for imaging are fairly straight-forward, and all must be completed successfully, with transmission of image data to Earth as a requirement. The rules use the moniker of a "Mooncast". The guidelines specifically state that the requirements may change over time as technology changes.

  • High resolution photographs of the Moon's surface, encompassing a full 360º panorama.
  • A self-portrait of the rover sitting on the surface of the Moon.
  • While roaming, we must record and transmit - in near real-time - 30 seconds of video of the Crawler's journey.
  • Send back High Definition video.
  • Not requiring actual photography, but more a store and forward operation, we must send pre-recorded data back to Earth. This data will be part of the payload of the Cringely Kraft (spelling to honor NASA Flight Director Kris Kraft).

The total minimum data requirements are two Mooncasts expected to be 500 Megabytes, a total of a Gigabyte of data.

This can be seen as two specific tasks:

  1. Send an Arrival Mooncast detailing the arrival on the lunar surface.
  2. A second Mission Complete Mooncast providing imagery and video of the journey across the lunar surface.
Arrival Mooncast

The Arrival Mooncast relays back to earth videos of the touchdown, images and video of the landing site and surrounding area, and a prerecorded video. The specific requirements of the Mooncast are as follows:

  1. Descent video of 2 minutes, including touchdown.
    • Near Real Time transmitted at the earliest possible opportunity.
    • High Definition recorded and transmitted before the end of the mission.
  2. Arrival Video of 30 seconds taken from the Moon's surface, showing the landing site and the surrounding area.
    • Near Real Time transmitted at the earliest possible opportunity.
      • Includes an audio voice-over track supplied by the X-Prize Foundation.
    • High Definition recorded and transmitted before the end of the mission.
  3. Arrival Images.
    • Panorama showing craft's landing site.
    • Three self-portrait Detail Images, each substantially different, showing the Google Lunar X Prize cluster.
    • Google Lunar X Prize cluster within context of the lunar surface.
  4. One prerecorded video.
  5. Additional Near Real Time video showing the landing site including multiple perspectives. This can be one or more videos accumulating to 6 minutes total.
  6. Additional High Definition video showing the landing site including multiple perspectives. This can be one or more videos accumulating to 6 minutes total.
Mission Complete Mooncast

Transmitted from the surface of the Moon, this Mooncast details our journey along the lunar surface and the final completion of the requirements.

  1. Departure video of 30 seconds, showing the Cringely Crawler's first departure from the landing site.
    • Near Real Time transmission at the earliest possible opportunity.
    • High Definition recorded and transmitted before the end of the mission.
  2. Looking Back video of 30 seconds showing the landing site receding as the Cringely Crawler moves away.
  3. Looking Back Detail Image showing landing site after the Cringely Crawler has begun to roam.
    • If one-piece lander/rover, then the tracks of the Cringely Crawler from the original landing site must be clear.
    • If separate Rover and Lander, must show 40% of the Landers surface area.
  4. Mid-Journey video of 30 seconds taken from the Cringely Crawler while roaming the surface.
    • Near Real Time transmission at the earliest possible opportunity.
    • High Definition recorded and transmitted before the end of the mission.
  5. Mid-Journey Self Portrait Detail Image.
    • Taken after approximately 250 meter of aimless roaming.
    • Contains 40% of the Cringely Crawler's surface area in the image.
  6. One Journey End video of 30 seconds, including the Cringely Crawler's destination and surrounding area.
    • Near Real Time transmission at the earliest possible opportunity.
    • High Definition recorded and transmitted before the end of the mission.
  7. One Journey End Panoramic image showing Cringely Crawler's location at the end of the 500 meter trek.
  8. One Journey End Detail Self-Portrait showing 40% of the Cringely Crawler surface area on location at the end of the 500 meter trek.
  9. Three Journey End Logo Detail Image showing the Google Lunar X Prize Logo cluster with the lunar surface background from different perspectives.
  10. Additional Near Real Time video showing way points and movements including multiple perspectives. This can be multiple videos accumulating to 5 minutes total.
  11. Additional High Definition video showing the Cringely Crawler's journey on the lunar surface including multiple perspectives. This can be multiple videos accumulating to 5 minutes total.

Mooncast Quality

Be aware that these requirements may change over the course of the competition due to improving technologies. We must make certain that we conform to the proper requirements.

Both still images and videos must be recorded and broadcast from the Moon's surface. These specifications are copied from the Google Lunar X Prize Guidelines published October 13, 2007.

All images and videos are to be in color, in high quality which show the intended contents are reasonably visible.

  • Attributes of a high definition image
    • Quantization: Minimum of eight bits per pixel per color
    • Sagittal and Meridional Modulation Transfer Functions at the Nyquist frequency superior to 40%
    • A signal to noise ratio under sunlight illumination of 50:1
    • Calibrated for color correction
  • Panoramic Images
    • Taken at horizon level
    • Encompass 360 degrees horizontally
    • Encompass 120 degrees in the vertical
    • Minimum resolution of 0.3 milliradians per pixel

Video images are of two formats, Near Real Time Video and High Definition Video. Note that the requirements imply that video compression of the Near Real Time videos is required.

  • Near Real Time video attributes
    • Transmitted to Earth and delivered to X Prize Foundation as a high priority
    • Resolution: 320x240
    • Bitrate: 256 kbps
    • Frame rate appropriate to the action in the frame, with a maximum requirement of 15 frames per second
    • Minimum length: 30 seconds unless otherwise specified
  • High Definition (HD) video attributes
    • Resolution: 720 progressive scan (720p)
    • Frame rate appropriate to the action in the frame, with a maximum requirement of 15 frames per second

Lunar Roving

Roam over the lunar surface a minimum of 500 meters. No specific directional requirements are defined, however, we may assume that we cannot roam in a continuous circle for 500 meters. We'll set the definition as 500 meters from the point of landing.

Extended Lunar Operation

Extended Roving

The Cringely Creepy Crawler must navigate over 5,000 meters to qualify for the Extended Roving prize.

Extended Overnight Survival

The Lunar system must survive one frigid night on the moon. This equates to 14.5 Earth-days (half a lunar cycle).

It appears the lunar system is allowed to shut down during the lunar night, but must come up operating once day-light (and warmth) returns.

Lunar Looking for Lazy Landers

For Heritage Bonus Prize money, we must find and image or video man-made historical artifacts from previous landings (Surveyor or Luna probes, Lunokhod rovers, Apollo landing sites) and send the images and/or videos to earth. The Google Lunar X Prize Judging Panel may approve other sites of interest.

Note that previous approval of the Google Lunar X Prize Judging Panel is required, to "eliminate unnecessary risks to the historically significant Sites of Interest.

Imaging

We must be able to document certain bonus tasks with high-definition video and still images and send the images back to Earth. This applies specifically to extended roving and locating previous landers.

Water Ice

Be the first to discover "scientifically conclusive proof of the presence of water on the Moon" and additional prize money is awarded. This appears to be separate from achieving all other goals.

The detection "must be featured in a peer reviewed paper to the satisfaction of the Judging Panel. The detection must be made from the surface of the moon, not from an craft above the surface.

Announcement videos concerning this task indicated the ice is to be found at the lunar South Pole, however the guidelines specify no requirement of the South Pole. The South Pole location is presumably the most likely location for discovery of Moon ice due to the rugged terrain and continuous shadows.

Continuing Operation

Platform for Student Education

This is key. We must make education and student involvement a continuous priority for this project. At the heart of this will be an educational web site carrying a lot of project video. We will be working with the George Lucas Education Foundation on this task.

Public Access

Most of what we do will be recorded and available to the public through web sites, photographs, documentation Press Releases, the I, Cringely website (of course) and printed newspaper and magazine articles. Certain important, advanced and/or unique aspects of our operations, planning and construction must be kept from prying eyes during development. This information will be recorded and publicized after our landing on the moon.

We'll not only document our plans, but the paths we've taken to get to the end results. This includes decisions we make, how we make them, why we make them, and the end results of our decisions.

Failure Recovery

Certain systems will be expected to fail. For example, surviving a lunar night will most certainly result in a total shutdown of our system (not really a failure, one surmises). Planning for that shutdown and subsequent recovery of the system is key to winning extra prize money.

Some of the failure recovery can be accomplished with software. Some will require hardware (ala the shotgun approach for multiple landers). Some will require adjustments to operations, even remote operations.

During all aspects of design and development we shall think "What could go wrong?". We document the potential problems, and provide for recovery. Cost and time will be obvious considerations here. Some things we may just let fail and recover by having a duplicate. These need to be conscious decisions.

Health Monitoring

We must design in the ability to monitor our vehicles remotely. The various craft must report back to Earth their relative health on a regular basis. Obviously, diagnostics must be designed in to be able to furnish this information, and the results of the diagnostics must be converted to some type of code that can be transmitted.

Do we need the ability to request more detailed diagnostic information? If so, we add complexity all throughout the design. Instead, we could just send more detailed information at certain regular intervals.

Under failure recovery, what do we do locally on the craft when abnormal conditions exist? How much of this is autonomous, and how must requires feedback from ground controllers? Keep these questions in mind as we move forward in design.

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