Big Week For Anniversary's!

This is a big week for anniversarys is space science and Robot related news. This past week marks the 40th anniversary of the Appolo 8 mission. This mission is significant because it was the first manned orbit of the moon and for the famous photograph by astronaut William Anders of the "Earthrise" above the moon. - Info here: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_102.html
On Jan. 3rd, 2004 the Mars rover Spirit landed on Mars and started its amazing life of exploration. The rover Opportunity touched down 21 days later. Deatails here: - http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/news/mer-20081229.html
And finally last but certainly not least Jan. 2nd is the celebrated birthday of Isaac Asimov. Dr. Asimov never knew his exact birthdate because of differences in the Gregorian and Hebrew calendars and because of a lack of exact records, but it was sometime between October 4, 1919 and January 2, 1920. He was one of the Grand Masters of science fiction writing and a personal inspiration to me. While Asimov did not invent the Robot stories he took them to a next level from pulp fiction magazines with his development of the "Three Laws Of Robotics" and his Robot novel series and short stories, ultimately weaving the destiny of mankind, more than 20000 years in the future from the subtle manipulations of two telepathic Robots, R. Daneel Olivaw and R. Giskard Reventlov. After reading these stories the idea of telepathic Robots isn't only plausible, but kind fo scary! I hope everyone who read blog this will consider for a moment how Asimov and authors like him have truly influenced our present day life and our future as several generations of scientists, inspired by their creative genius have worked to make science fiction reality. Happy Birthday Dr. Asimov!

NASA TV to air FIRST kickoff event

For those of us who receive NASA TV, tomorrow Jan. 3rd at 10:00AM, they'll be broadcasting coverage of the 2009 season FIRST kickoff event from New Hampshire. Details here: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Breaking.html

For information about FIRST and the FLL go here:
http://www.usfirst.org/default.aspx

Qiuck Update

Sorry for several post today, but these past few weeks were quite busy. When we last left our Robot club we had all made good progress towards finishing our models and were about to begin working on the code that would enable our Robots to complete their objective. Hopefully we'll be adding some pictures this week - Stay tuned!

Happy Holidays & 2009

Just a note to wish everyone a Happy 20091 I hope everyone's holiday week was restful and warm. I'm looking forward to a big year robotically in 2009!

Endeavour to Leave California on Wednesday

Space shuttle Endeavour return from California to Florida is planned planned to start Wednesday at sunrise. The shuttle is going to ride on the back of a 747 as it takes off from Edward's Air Force Base in California. It could arrive at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida as soon as Thursday depending on the weather along the way. Forecasters have been watchin the conditions associated with the slow-moving cold front as they plan Endeavour's trip back to Florida. The 747 and Endeavour are to take off 9:29 a.m. EST, or 6:29 a.m. PST. Endeavour is poised at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center to be bolted to the 747 tonight. Dyden is adjacent to Edwards in the Mojave Desert northeast of Los Angeles.
-The End :-]
This article was posted on NASA's website on - December 8, 2008!
Peace out homies!

Mars Rover Engineer Looks to Moon Rovers

Brian Wilcox, a man who worked on the Spirit and Opportunity Rovers that are still working on Mars are now looking at making another rover for exploring the Moon. People have been to the moon so why are we going back? In the 1960s, the Soviet Union (now Russia) and the United States were in a race to the Moon. In 1969, man landed on the moon with Apollo 11 and Neil Armstrong. In 1972, Apollo 17 was the last US mission to the moon. We stopped making the rockets that got us to the Moon and have used the Space Shuttle ever since. The Shuttle can only circle the Earth.
Now we are in another space race to go back to the Moon. China, India, and the European Space Agency have sent probes to study the moon. We no longer have the ability to make the old Apollo rockets and we have to start again. Robots will go back before man. For 9 questions about Robotics and NASA look here.
http://www.origin.popularmechanics.com/blogs/science_news/4277080.html?series=35

Mission to Mars November 17th Update

On Monday, November 17th, we had four students that stayed for Robotics. We worked on our rovers and looked at our Mars cards and tried to stay inside the their budget. The challenges were many but progress was made. We will see what Monday brings next week.