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IPFS News Link • Space Travel and Exploration

Almost Being There: Why the Future of Space Exploration Is Not What You Think

• http://www.wired.com, By Adam Mann
 Mocup is a tiny, adorable remote-controlled robot built from a Lego Mindstorms set with an off-the-shelf Beagleboard computer for a brain and a webcam for an eye. The machine is not fundamentally different from many other RC robots — except for the fact that its controller operates it from space.

The cat-sized robot can do little more than move around, avoid obstacles, and transmit video. It’s mostly a testbed for communications to help humans in orbit and robots on the surface of a planet work seamlessly together. On Oct. 23, astronaut Sunita Williams sent commands from the International Space Station to Mocup – which stands for the Meteron Operations and Communications Prototype – telling it to travel around an obstacle course in Germany. The test may seem mundane but Mocup represents the first step in dramatically redefining how we discover and investigate the universe.

1 Comments in Response to

Comment by PureTrust
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The future of space exploration is not what you think. Why not? Because the economy IS what you think... if you think about it a little beyond the superficial. The reality of the economy is NOT the recovery that politicians in Government want you to believe. Rather, the economy is just as bad as it can be, except that it is getting worse.

What does that have to do with the future of space exploration? What would happen if the banking system actually collapsed? If it did, would there be any funds around for space exploration at all? Make a good guess. Nobody knows for sure what would happen in a total bank collapse. And there are indications from around the world that such a thing as world bank collapse can not be avoided at this stage of insolvency.