The Google Lunar X Prize

I generally keep up pretty well on the news, and this week the X Prize Foundation announced the winners of the Progressive Automotive X Prize. As you might guess from the title of this post, I wasn’t really impressed. Sure, some companies were able to make some cars that got better than 100 miles per gallon, driving at speeds between 45 and 70 mph. I suppose that could technically make them vehicles that might actually be capable of commercial use. But looking closer, it doesn’t seem likely. Three vehicles reached the mark. One was a really lightweight vehicle that combined high percentage ethanol fuel with some batteries. The others were basically electric motorcycles. None of these vehicles would realistically be looked at by any consumers.

But I was really excited by the Ansari X Prize a few years back, and I’m also super excited about a new one which is just getting started called the Google Lunar X Prize. Let’s begin my explanation of this competition by simply pasting in the description of it on the official website:

The Google Lunar X PRIZE is a $30 million international competition to safely land a robot on the surface of the Moon, travel 500 meters over the lunar surface, and send images and data back to the Earth. Teams must be at least 90% privately funded and must be registered to compete by December 31, 2010. The first team to land on the Moon and complete the mission objectives will be awarded $20 million; the full first prize is available until December 31, 2012. After that date, the first prize will drop to $15 million. The second team to do so will be awarded $5 million. Another $5 million will awarded in bonus prizes. The final deadline for winning the prize is December 31, 2014.

Simply reading that makes it look like the X Prize foundation has gone nuts. A few years ago, they were holding a competition just to get into space, and now they’re trying to get to the moon?!? But wait! This competition isn’t so much about getting there. The Ansari X Prize has already accomplished that feat for them. SpaceX, founded by Paypal millionaire Elon Musk, grew from the Ansari X Prize competition, and has a rocket capable of getting payloads to a lunar orbit, the Falcon 9. The Google Lunar X Prize actually recommends use of SpaceX launch capabilities for the competition, although competitors could choose to go a different route (NASA, Arianespace, among others) if they chose to do so.

This competition is about creating a privately funded lunar lander, as well as a rover of some sort. The competition also requires that the lander send over one gigabyte of data from the surface of the moon to the earth in the form of a “mooncast”. The mooncast includes high resolution 360º panoramic photographs taken on the surface of the moon, self portraits of the rover taken on the surface of the Moon, near-real time videos showing the craft’s journey along the lunar surface, and High Definition (HD) video. “Teams will be required to send a Mooncast detailing their arrival on the lunar surface, and a second Mooncast that provides imagery and video of their journey roaming the lunar surface.”

The Google Lunar X Prize excites me because of it’s ability to excite the public about space again. With Congressional infighting about NASA’s future budget, we can no longer look to the government for space exploration. The X Prize Foundation has managed to create a true privately owned space industry, and the Google Lunar X Prize aims to take it beyond low earth orbit. Success here could lead to great advancements in space, and I find that truly exciting.

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The Cleveland Browns Biggest Issue? Eric Mangini.

I realize it’s only the first game of the year. I won’t go so far as to say I had high hopes coming into the season, but it seemed to me that things were getting better. Jake Delhomme is obviously on the downside of his career, but he provides a good veteran presence, if nothing else.

In the first half, I saw a lot of things to like as Cleveland took an early 14-3 lead in one of their most winnable games on the schedule this year. And then Jake Delhomme hurt his foot.

I’m not sure what he did to his foot, exactly, but it was obviously hurting him. He was limping around. He wasn’t stepping into his throws at all, leading to him trying to whip the ball on arm-strength alone, which of course led to poor throws.

Fine, let him keep trying. He throws a bad pick, and the Bucs come back to bring the score to 14-10 at the half. I’m thinking to myself that the Browns will obviously take a closer look at Delhomme during the half and notice his foot problem. Clearly they’ll bring in Seneca Wallace and feature more of a Flash/Cyclone package power running game much like the end of last season when the Browns managed to win several to close out the year.

Unfortunately, I was wrong. Eric Mangini kept a gimpy Jake Delhomme in the game, and proceeded to have one decent drive followed by five 3 and outs. Five! And it was obvious that Delhomme was hurting. Sure, Peyton Hillis was having some issues holding onto the football. I can understand being concerned about feeding him the ball. But what about Jerome Harrison? He had only 9 carries. What about Josh Cribbs? He ended the game with 3 whole carries out of the Flash package, and I didn’t even see him lining up at wide receiver until the fourth quarter. Where was Seneca Wallace? Lining up at wide receiver a couple times on the four or five Flash plays that were called?

I realize I’m sounding a bit like an armchair quarterback here, but there is absolutely no reason the Browns should have lost this game. Mike Holmgren needs to admit he made a mistake in retaining Eric Mangini and start his search for a new coach.

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MLS and the Columbus Crew

A couple weeks ago, on August 28th, 2010, I traveled down to Columbus to watch the Columbus Crew take on FC Dallas. For those who don’t know, those are soccer teams of the US soccer league, Major League Soccer. I had fully intended to post this the night of or the day after the game, but life went and got in the way. My apologies. I seem to have a serious issue with timeliness on my blog posts.

Since the World Cup this year in South Africa, soccer has been a bit more on the general radar of Americans than usual. Of course, it still lags horribly behind other more popular American sports. ESPN is really letting me down here. They have a soccer section on their website, but they don’t regularly follow the MLS, reporting only on bigger games (such as yesterday’s game between the LA Galaxy and the Crew), and games which feature America’s soccer sweetheart — Landon Donovan.

Any way, back to the game I mean to talk about. FC Dallas came to Crew Stadium in Columbus, and I managed to pick up some pretty good tickets. The game itself was a bit lackluster, though. Neither team really seemed to be playing for the win, with both teams resting some starters. I can’t say I blame them, as the game fell in between a CONCACAF game and a MLS Open Cup game for the Crew. Nonetheless, I enjoyed myself watching the Crew draw with FC Dallas 0-0. I look forward to getting back down to Columbus for a more meaningful game some time.

If you care to read through a recap of the game, there is one here at MLSSoccer.com.

Check out a few of the better pictures we got down in Columbus below. If anyone is curious, these were taken from Section 127, Row 5.

Make sure you get out to a game! It’s a really family friendly experience, so bring the kids along.

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