|
Team Phoencia's Maker Faire Booth: Left: James Erd (machinist);right: Steve Berl (real time programmer). Ride a rocket into space, put a spacecraft into orbit, launch outof orbit, head to the Moon, land on the Moon, then travel at least500 meters on the Moon, and finally send a panoramic image back toEarth. That's what Team Phoenicia --a Lunar X Prize contestant--plans to do, and here is some of what they are doingto get there. Like any mission to another celestial body, you start withprototypes. This year at the Bay Area Maker Faire , Team Phoenicia showed off a couple of very early prototypes ofvehicles for the mission. The first is an example of their descentdevice, which will bring the rover down with a soft landing to thelunar surface. This early prototype uses propellers for simulation,but the real deal will use rocket engines. Early prototype of soft landing vehicle This second prototype is of the rover itself: Early prototype of lunar rover From here, Team Phoenicia will work itself up to building theactual lunar crafts. All of this gets pretty expensive, so the teamhave a couple of their own machinists to do a lot of stuffin-house. The team has some of the required machining equipment,but it will also utilize Tech Shop --one of which is right next door. Next, you need to actually get into space and that's not thecheapest thing in the world. A launch on a Falcon 9 rocket--one ofthe cheaper alternatives--will cost you at least $54 million . Most of the X Prize teams probably don't have $54 million intheir savings accounts, so they will most likely have to tag alongas secondary payloads on a mission. The primary payload companywould absorb most of the cost, but it can still be expensive ifthey want the X Prize team to pitch in. Right now, TeamPhoenicia--which plans to be a secondary payload--is undergoingnegotiations, but they can't say with who or give too many detailsabout it. Since Team Phoenicia's craft will more than likely be flying as asecondary payload, that means that it may only be lofted into orbitwith another satellite, and that it'll have to get itself out oforbit and onto the Moon. This will require some kind of propulsionsystem, which, again, means more money. To help cover some of these expenses Team Phoenicia has severalsponsors, and according to a blog post from March, 2011 they had already accumulated some $5 million forits Google Lunar X Prize bid. In addition to sponsors, they also have a business plan and aremaking and selling rocket engines, which is pretty unique. In fact,in March of this year, Team Phoenicia was selected by Nova Rocketcraft for a one-million-dollar contract for their rocket engine needs. A graphite rocket engine nozzle made by Team Phoenicia The injector plate--used for moderating fuel ratios--for a rocketengine, built by Team Phoenicia Check out the video below of their Liquid Oxygen (LOX)/Kerosenemotor test-fire (substituting Gaseous Oxygen (GOX)/Propane asprecursor test to the intended LOX/Kerosene mixture). Your browser does not support iframes. When all is said and done, Team Phoenicia is doing pretty well sofar. According to the (unofficial) Google Lunar X Prize Team Scorecard/Scoreboard by Evadot , Team Phoenicia is in third place overall--based on interviews andresearch--although it holds the number-one place for "feeling"--thegut feeling that the Evadot scorers get when they speak to theteam. In other words, Team Phoenicia is very confident in itsability to succeed. Team Phoenicia plans to launch by 2015, and it needs your help toget to the Moon. Make sure to check out their site and to support them if you can. Also, make sure you check out whatthe other teams are up to; some have some pretty cool stuff. Follow James Mulroy on Twitter and on StumbleUpon to get the latest in microbe , dinosaur , and death ray news . Like this? You might also enjoy... If You Missed the Eclipse, This Video Is the Next Best Thing Robofish Detects Sea Pollution and Protects Real Marine Life, Is aFreaking Robot SpaceX Successfully Launches Falcon 9 Into Orbit; Now Onward to theISS Get more GeekTech: Twitter - Facebook - RSS Tip us off. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as usb travel charger adapter , solar mobile chargers Manufacturer for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits car charger outlet adapter.
Related Articles -
usb travel charger adapter, solar mobile chargers Manufacturer,
|
