Moon rover teams aim high

RALEIGH -- Call them space geeks, stargazers, gizmo wizards or robot freaks. They all accepted a simple but tantalizing invitation: "Are you interested in participating in a real mission to the moon?"

More than 100 volunteers filled a lecture hall Tuesday night at N.C. State University, hoping for a part -- any part -- in the $30 million contest to put a robot rover on Earth's satellite.

About a third of the crowd was ex-NASA, including former Apollo engineer Robert Schwager from Cary, who turns 80 this year and still carries his ID card from the moon missions he worked -- not to mention a medallion made partially of lunar dust.

"I was in the same class with Neil Armstrong at Purdue," he said. "Only trouble is, he went on to be famous and I didn't."

The room full of space enthusiasts all want to chase the Google Lunar X Prize, a worldwide race to put a rover on the moon.

Right now, 13 teams are competing, including Raleigh's TeamSTELLAR, which includes NCSU professors, private-sector engineers and aeronautics researchers in its core group. Expected launch time: late 2010.

"We all have day jobs," said Richard Dell Jr., program manager for the Advanced Vehicle Research Center in Raleigh. "We're doing this with volunteers."

The rules:

* The winning moon robot must be able to travel at least 500 meters -- about a third of a mile -- on the lunar surface and send video, pictures and data back to earth.

* Teams must be funded with at least 90 percent private money. No help from NASA.

* First prize is $20 million. Second prize is $5 million. Bonus prize: $5 million for traveling more than 5,000 meters or surviving the subzero temperatures of a 14-day lunar night.

Among the competition:

* Team Italia, which is considering a green octopus-shape rover.

* Team Astrobotic, whose leader has developed robots that walk into volcanoes and failed nuclear plants.

* Mystery Team, which wishes to remain anonymous and keep its plans as cloaked as a Klingon Bird of Prey.

But TeamSTELLAR will draw about 150 people from the Triangle, which boasts one of the nation's highest concentrations of Ph.D. scientists and engineers.

Brandon Nichols, who started graduate aerospace engineering classes at NCSU on Wednesday, hopes to be one.

On Tuesday night, he and his classmates brought along the robot they finished as their senior project last year.

Their assignment: Build an interplanetary rover capable of drilling through the surface.

At 90 pounds, it offers three cameras, five speed controllers and five distinct power systems -- made partially from windshield-wiper parts.

"This," Nichols said proudly, "is the result of nine months of work, from a white piece of paper to what you have here."

TeamSTELLAR, though, welcomes novice sky watchers along with eggheads. The only question on the volunteer sheet is, "What about the moon inspires you?"

They need fundraisers, artists, Web designers, office managers -- and lawyers, of course.

"You just don't launch a rocket to the moon without a lot of paperwork," said software engineer Grayson Randall, one of the core group. "The permits alone might take a year."

Schoolchildren, too, are needed.

"We want to inspire them," Dell said. "Invigorate them. Teach them if possible. We think we have a job for everyone here tonight."

A dozen or so teens came out to volunteer, along with a pair of younger ones who still need some prodding.

"It was either this or go to dance recital with my sister," said Keely Carlson, 7, of Durham.

"I just came here because I didn't want to do homework," said her brother, Jarrett, 10.

Outside, an orange moon hung in the night sky, bright as a gold medal on a navy blue blazer.

The space enthusiasts all folded their volunteer forms into their pockets and gaped at it as they walked to their cars, dreaming of beautiful gadgets rolling across its rocks.