Caroline Kirby
Earth Science
Period D Odd
October 7, 2015
Google and Israel May Be Heading to the Moon
This article is mainly about how a nonprofit start up company in Israel, SpaceIL, is entering the Google Lunar XPrize competition. Google will award $20 million to the first contestant who lands an intact, private spacecraft on the Moon. It must travel at least 500m on the surface of the Moon and also send back video, as well as high definition pictures. There are also additional incentive prizes, with the second place finisher receiving $5 million, and if any spacecraft can survive a lunar night it will also receive the same prize. Additionally, if any craft can visit an Apollo landing site, more grants will be awarded. To enter, all of the finalists have to have a verified contract submitted to Google by the end of December 2016. At a press conference in Jerusalem on October 7th, the President of Israel announced that SpaceIL is the first contestant in the competition to have formal plans to land a spaceship on the Moon before 2017. He was joined by representatives from Google and the company itself, SpaceIL. The company has already funded a verified launch contract, which they accomplished by drawing up a contract with Spaceflight Industries. Industries is a US space services company that owns a rocket, and will launch SpaceIL’s moon probe as part of their own private takeoff. The fact that Israel is planning to accomplish this is amazing, as only three countries have been able to land a rover on the Moon in history, each much larger than tiny Israel. The United States, Russia (then the Soviet Union), and China are each more economically profitable, larger, and more influential than Israel, but if they succeed, they will join the exclusive list of countries who landed a probe on the Moon.
What I found most interesting about this article, besides how crazy Google’s competition is, is how the author mentioned that UNESCO is attempting to put the Apollo landing sites under the protection of the World Heritage List. This would prohibit anyone from landing probes or walking on any of the six sites, which would put a damper on Google’s incentive prize. Another thing that is fascinating is how small the probe will be - only the size of a dishwasher, and it doesn’t even have wheels. So, SpaceIL is going to try and make their prob “hop” across the surface, using the remaining fuel.
Overall, I think this article was written fairly well. The author made sure to define terms that non-astrophysicists and astronomers may not know, and presented the information in a logical sequence. I was easily able grasp the ideas he presented, and understand what the main idea of the article was very quickly. He also included various humorous phrases, which kept me engaged in reading the article. However, I would have liked to have had more information about how SpaceIL actually plans to launch their prob, like where it will leave from, and when it is going to leave. In general, though, this article was very informative and well-written, in a clear, concise way.
Klueger, Jeff. "Why Google and Israel Are Heading to the Moon." Time. Time, 7 Oct. 2015. Web. 7 Oct. 2015. <http://time.com/4063420/moon-israel-google-xprize/>.
I really enjoyed reading Caroline’s review, and I felt like she truly understood her article because she got into so much detail. Before reading her review I was unaware of Google’s Lunar XPrize Competition. Through her paper I learned what this competition entails. The fact that someone has to land an intact spacecraft on the moon and move it 500m while on the surface, sounds incredible. I was impressed that such a small country like Israel, has already entered the competition, because it probably already has so much pressure to succeed, and maybe even to win. In her review, I was impressed when she compared the size of the probe to a dishwasher, as it created a vivid image in my head. Throughout her review she stated many facts that were interesting to me. For instance, when I discovered that the deadline for entering this competition was December 2016, I thought it gave the competitors enough time to decide how to proceed with their projects. I also found the task to be interesting, as it can be a challenge to create a non-governmental organization to strive to accomplish a goal in outer space (because they had no help scientifically or financially from the government). Lastly, I found it interesting that Google would sponsor this competition because Google is an innovative company, and sponsoring this falls in line with their innovative spirit.
ReplyDeleteI believe the rules for the contest were presented well, as they stated the requirements in an organized fashion. In addition, she thoroughly presented different opinions she had on the article, and clearly expressed how she believed the article was well written. The only thing I would consider doing next time would be to make sure the citation comes before the review (and not after), because you are specifically discussing a certain article, so just like a book review or report, the citation would come at the beginning. Despite this and one or two grammatical errors, Caroline had a great, well written, review!
Gigi Chrappa November 10, 2015
ReplyDeleteEarth Science Current Events Comment
Through reading this report, I have learned many things about the Google Lunar XPrize competition. I was aware of the SpaceIL company in Israel but I had no idea that the company was entering in the Google Lunar XPrize competition. SpaceIL, a company trying to promote space exploration in Israel, also was the first contestant to enter this momentous competition. Spacelife Industries, a competitor from the United States, has their own rocket which they plan to launch as well. Lastly, only three other countries, Russia, China, and the United States, have ever landed a probe on the moon. This is extremely impressive because SpaceIL, a nonprofit organization, has taken the first step to landing a probe on the Moon.
Certain parts of the report were presented very well. For example, when the analyst explains the size of which the probes would be, she used references. By using references, such as a dishwasher, we get a good idea of what the true size of the probe is. After the size was explained using great references, the way in which these probes will maneuver was also explained. The use of the word “hop” places a clear image in the reader’s eyes. Since there are no wheels on the probes, they have to roam around the Moon some other way. If I was not told the probes would be “hopping” around the Moon I would not know how they would move. By using a common act, such as hopping, it helps the readers to understand on a deeper level, the motions that will occur.
Overall, this report was very well written and included a lot of detail. However, if the writer had to improve upon one thing, I suggest that they include a little more detail on the SpaceIL company. This report included great transitions between topics, paragraphs, and even sentences which created a cohesive feel to the writing.