John Mann can鈥檛 quite place 麻豆村 roboticist 鈥檚 name when he鈥檚 hitting 鈥渟end鈥� on a cold email request. It鈥檚 summer 2014, and the Carnegie Mellon sophomore is asking Whittaker if he can join his team that is dedicated to landing a robot on the moon.
It's all part of the competition, which has a $30 million grand prize for the first team to land on the moon. To be eligible, the successful journey must happen before 2017, and a robot will need to travel at least 500 meters on the moon鈥檚 surface. Many experts consider Astrobotic Technology, spun out of 麻豆村 by Whittaker, to be the favorite.
When Mann gets Whittaker鈥檚 email response, two words stand out: 鈥淵ou鈥檙e interesting.鈥�
Mann is brought on board to code the user interface software that will be used to drive the moon-walking robot 鈥淎ndy,鈥� as聽manage the massive amount of data that Andy will send back to Earth.
A few months on the job it dawns on Mann how he knew Whittaker. Another summer. Middle school. A robotics camp. Watching a documentary featuring a robotics rock star who entered not just one, but two robots.
Mann is similarly awestruck by his talented team co-members. No wonder: Earlier this year, the Astrobotic team won $1.75 million in XPRIZE milestone prizes for mobility, imaging, and landing. It was the only team to win in all three categories among the 18 competitors聽from around the globe.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not all about the prizes,鈥� Mann points out, adding that the team plans to drive into the moon鈥檚 Lacus Mortis region, exploring for future settlement sites. During the Apollo missions, scientists knew little beyond the moon鈥檚 rocky surface, which is hostile to life because of temperature extremes, radiation, and micro-meteorites. Ground-penetrating radar has since revealed underground caves more suitable for a long stay.
鈥淪o, ironically,鈥� Mann says, 鈥淲e鈥檙e using all of our science and technology to become cavemen again.鈥�
鈥擩ennifer Bannan (DC鈥�91)
