A New Space Race, Fueled by Simulation

摘要

In 1961, when John F. Kennedy publicly vowed to land a man on the moon and return him safely to the Earth within a decade, he spurred an era of space exploration. Seeing Russia launching Sputnik 1 satellite into space four years earlier probably also lit a fire under the American scientific community's feet. In 1969, six years after Kennedy's death, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped out of Apollo 11, becoming the first humans to set foot on the moon. Today, the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize (GLXP) is fueling a new era of space exploration, characterized by friendly competition among teams around the world. Past space endeavors were primarily funded by governments and national institutions. The GLXP, on the other hand, is designed to inspire privately funded groups. To win the prize, a team must safely land a robot on the surface of the moon, have that robot travel 500 meters over the lunar surface, and send video, images and data back to the Earth. Launched in 2007, GLXP started with 33 teams. Since then, some teams merged and others withdrew, reducing the pool to its current 23.