Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771
ENGINEERING COLLOQUIUM
Monday, May 12, 2008 / 3:30 PM, Building 3 Auditorium
Robert X. Cringely
"The Google X-Prize: Rovers on the Moon"
ABSTRACT -- The Google X-Prize will be awarded to the team which first lands a robotic rover on the Moon. Like the Ansari X-Prize which preceded it, the Google prize is intended to stimulate the development of space technology. The announcement of Team Cringely's entry into the new Moon Race gave the team's goals: 1) we're coming to learn; 2) we're coming to have fun, and; 3) we're coming to win.
Along the way, Team Cringely will use the project to spread the enthusiasm for space education, by web sites, blogs, and possibly a TV program.
Although there are organizational differences between Team Cringley and NASA, there are also many similarities in the technical challenges to be overcome and in the dedication to technical excellence and to sharing our excitement with the general public.
SPEAKER -- Robert X. Cringely is a well known Silicon Valley journalist and sometimes technical entrepreneur. The 12th employee at Apple computer he also was present and involved in the founding of Cisco Systems and a number of less well-known high tech successes and failures. As a journalist he makes documentary films for PBS, including the legendary Triumph of the Nerds, has written a column on pbs.org since 1997, and just this month has a new documentary The Transformation Age: Surviving a Technological Revolution with Robert X. Cringely. Attempting to put all this thinking into practice Cringely has now started Team Cringely to relieve google of its $20 million prize for landing and driving a rover on the Moon.