The first commercial mission to the Moon is taking the latest in hand-held
computers with along for the ride.
TrailBlazer, a lunar probe developed by the company TransOrbital in La Jolla, California, will use the Hewlett Packard iPAQ Pocket PC h5550 to communicate with ground controllers.
"We're very excited to be onboard this first private mission to the Moon," said HP spokeswoman Dayna Fried of iPAQ's role in the TrailBlazer effort.
HP's iPAQ h5550 contains a 400-megahertz processor and 128 megabytes of random access memory (RAM). Fried told SPACE.com that iPAQs are currently being used in TrailBlazer ground tests, with a single unit to provide web-based communications once the craft is in space.
Dennis Laurie, TransOrbital president and CEO, told SPACE.com that it was the iPAQ's computing power, small size, standardized wireless communication platform, and web-based capabilities, which made it a good fit for the TrailBlazer spacecraft. "We wanted to do what we could to keep things fairly simple and straightforward, and by doing that reduce costs of the craft and its operation," he said.
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| An artist's interpretation of the TrailBlazer spacecraft. Click to enlarge.
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| Hewlett Packard's iPAQ h5550 will be integrated into TransOrbital's TrailBlazer spacecraft to allow wireless communications during the Moon mission. Click to enlarge.
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| An artist's conception of TrailBlazer on its way to the Moon. Click to enlarge.
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| One step closer to the Moon. TransOrbital's Trailblazer test craft being readied for Russian rocket sendoff into low Earth orbit. CREDIT: TransOrbital
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Blazing a trail
TrailBlazer is a small spacecraft, weighing about 242 pounds (110 kilograms), with a visual mission. According to TransOrbital's mission profile, the craft will use high-resolution video cameras to image the lunar surface, with special attention paid to NASA's Apollo and Russia's Lunakhod landing sites.
About 90 days into the mission, the craft is scheduled to deorbit and crash into the lunar surface, broadcasting its descent to observers on the ground. A hardened capsule will protect about 22 pounds (10 kilograms) of jewelry, cremated remains, personal messages and other cargo aboard the craft.
A test mission was launched into Earth orbit in December 2002 to check out TrailBlazer's launch vehicle, a Dnepr
rocket, and the spacecraft separation
process.
"That launch performed flawlessly," said Laurie. "Our second step is to go to the Moon." TrailBlazer's launch is set for early 2004.
A secure database on the Moon
TrailBlazer isn't the end of TransOrbital's plans for the Moon.
"We've already contracted for two subsequent missions," said Laurie. Both of those missions, he added, should have landers that will not only set down on the Moon in one piece, but also may carry computer servers that could receive and store data on the lunar surface.
Those servers would be archives for company records or historic information completely independent from any database on the surface of the Earth. Once you get off-planet, Laurie said, you avoid the danger of losing data due to a disaster, natural or man-made. "One thing that's nice about the Moon, is that no one's going to come up and destroy your database," he added.
TransOrbital missions could also see a boost in interest and participation because of the ease which web-based e-mail users could transmit messages via the iPAQ device.
"Future applications of iPAQs could be used to help people communicate via e-mail to a spacecraft while it's orbiting the Moon or on the surface," Fried said. While the iPAQ h5550 is already useful for monitoring systems from the ground, future units could be attached to cameras outside a TransOrbital craft, allowing the streaming Moon video transmissions to Earth, she added.
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