When it comes to space exploration, sending a man to the moon just doesn’t have the appeal it once did. We’ve been there and done that, what’s the point of spending $150 billion dollars to send astronauts back to the lunar surface when we’ve got bigger goals in mind? That’s why the Obama administration and NASA have been working on alternate solutions to the human exploration problem, and they may have discovered one. A NASA team, lead by Stephen J. Altemus, has come up with a plan to send a robot to the moon. The plan has been given the cool nickname Project M.
Here’s the kicker. The price of the lunar exploration robot, including the cost of a rocket to send it to the moon, is only about $450 million dollars. The robot itself is less than $200 million and can be ready in less than 1000 days, according to Altemus and his team of engineers at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, who basically put together the plans for the robot in their spare time using spare money from discretionary funds. The 1000-day deadline was chosen at random, just to create a sense of urgency.
NASA is increasingly fascinated with unmanned exploration of space. Robonaut 2, the first humanoid robot in space, is scheduled to fly to the International Space Station on Wednesday. No word on how soon a pair of sexy lunar legs will be joining him.
Tags: Johnson Space Center, NASA, Robonaut 2, NASA plans to land a robot on the moon, robot lunar explorer, Stephen J. Altemus, robot on the moon, unusual plans, unmanned space exploration, the moon, lunar exploration, robot astronaut, Project M
