I want to play a 'Moon Is A harsh Mistress' role playing game. before veyerhoeven RUINS IT with a TRUNCHEON the way he decimated ST.
mikal x! --- Brent Wodehouse <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > http://www.space.com/news/050519_moonrox_challenge.html > > NASA Challenge: Pull Oxygen from Moon Dirt, Win > $250,000 > > By Tariq Malik > Staff Writer > > posted: 19 May 2005 > > > NASA has promised a cool $250,000 for the first team > capable of > pulling breathable oxygen from mock moon dirt, the > latest award in the > space agency's Centennial Challenges program. > > The cash prize is the reward for winners of the > agency's Moon Regolith > Oxygen (MoonROx) challenge, the third contest set by > NASA to encourage > commercial space industry. > > "It our hope to kind of seed some of the long-term > technologies that > were going to need for future exploration," said Brant > Sponberg, NASA's > Centennial Challenges program manager, in a telephone > interview. > > In the MoonROx contest, NASA and the Florida Space > Research Institute > (FSRI) challenge inventors to pull at least 11 pounds > (five kilograms) > of breathable oxygen from a volcanic ash-derived lunar > soil substitute > called JSC-1. > > But it doesn't end there. Participants not only have > to extract the > oxygen, but must accomplish the feat within eight > hours. The > competition expires June 1, 2008. > > "Oxygen extraction technologies will be critical for > both robotic and > human missions to the moon," said Sam Durrance, > executive director for > FSRI. Like other space-focused prize competitions, the > MoonROx > challenge will encourage a broad community of > innovators to develop > technologies that expand our capabilities. > > Earlier this year, NASA detailed two other centennial > challenges. > > The 2005 Beam Power Challenge will award $50,000 to > the first team > that can use wireless technology to lift a weight off > the ground. Such > technology could eventually be employed to beam > payloads off Earth. > Meanwhile, the 2005 Tether Challenge calls for teams > to build the > strongest tether of a specific diameter. The tethers > will each be > stretched to the breaking point, with winners > advancing through the > ranks toward a final showdown with NASA's house > tether, made of > existing material. Beat the house tether and you snag > $50,000. > > NASA plans to set aside about $80 million towards > Centennial Challenge > prizes over the next five years to encourage private > space technology > development. Partly spurred by the $10 million Ansari > X Prize for a > private, manned suborbital spaceflight - which was > snared last year > by Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne - the cash prize is > also geared to > help support NASA's space exploration vision. > > That vision, announced by President Bush on Jan. 14, > 2004, calls > for a resurgence of human missions to the moon by > 2020, as well as the > ultimate push out to Mars and beyond. > > "The use of resources on other worlds is a key element > of the vision > for space exploration," said Craig Steidle, NASA's > associate > administrator for the exploration systems mission > directorate, in a > statement. This challenge will reach out to inventors > who can help us > achieve the vision sooner. > > Sponberg said that more challenges will be announced > in upcoming > weeks, and may include additional contests to develop > off-planet > resource utilization tools or astronaut support > systems. > > Other front-runners for near-term contests could > challenge innovators > to develop a better spacesuit glove or an unmanned, > lighter-than-air > vehicle that could one day lead to a Venus or Mars > probe. > > "Longer-term challenges may call for full-up space > missions or complex > demonstrations, such as a high-precision landing," > Sponberg added. > > "I think it adds great dimensions to our [exploration > vision]," > Sponberg said of the Centennial Challenges program. > It's a great way to > reach out to innovators that we couldn't before. > > http://particlezen.proboards7.com/index.cgi the edge of everything. no, really. http://www.deadjournal.com/users/cataleptik/ catal3ptik is a rav3r Discover Yahoo! Stay in touch with email, IM, photo sharing and more. Check it out! http://discover.yahoo.com/stayintouch.html ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Has someone you know been affected by illness or disease? Network for Good is THE place to support health awareness efforts! http://us.click.yahoo.com/rkgkPB/UOnJAA/Zx0JAA/LRMolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/