Oct
4
Arrival on the Space Isle
I find myself on the Isle of Man – nay – “The Space Isle” – for the Google Lunar X Prize summit taking place here today and tomorrow. The sun is shining, which a definite improvement on the rainy London I left yesterday and apparently the Isle of Man is the fifth most likely nation in the world to get a person back on the Moon. Who knew?
I’m looking forward to meeting some of the teams who are competing for a cut of the $30 million prize fund for sending a robot to the moon, traveling 500m and sending back at least one packet of data to Earth. There are already 22 teams in the running, with an additional team due to be verified at any moment (or so I hear).
Yesterday I got chatting with a few people at an evening reception. Here’s my quick Audioboo on featuring some interesting little tid bits:
For more information on US ITAR (International Trade in Arms Regulations), which I mention in the audio piece, I’m told that the Wikipedia article on the subject is a decent starting point.
