Robot astronaut: NASA's M Plan

The dream of returning to the moon still cooks Americans, but spending hundreds of billions of dollars to make this dream come true is impossible in the context of "cinnamon rice ".

$ 150 billion is the amount proposed by the NASA (US Space Agency) to the government to bring American astronauts back to the ' old place' . The Obama administration does not agree because it is too expensive. Last September, the US Congress also decided to cancel NASA's plan.

The RR-1 landed in Dallas in June 2010. (Photo: Techmynd )

Race for 1,000 days

However, a team of engineers at NASA's Space Center (JSC) did not give up. JSC is a place to train astronauts and study to bring real people or robots to space.

Instead of bringing real people, JSC proposed to take robonaut astronaut to explore the moon, both safe and save a lot of things. Such a flight costs only about $ 200 million for spacecraft and robonaut plus $ 250 million for missiles. JSC is committed to doing that within 1,000 days.

The above idea is named M. Plan. According to Roman number, M equals 1,000. M is also the first letter of the moon (moon). This was a bold effort by Stephen J.Altemus, a general engineer at JSC, a year ago. Before proposing the M Plan, he paid rent to some dedicated engineers and comrades to work overtime to research and design the flight.

Altemus is also associated with companies and units of NASA conducting tests related to the plan. Mr. Altemus excitedly reported the results: ' We have done incredible things with a very modest amount, almost nothing '.

JSC's card is now robonaut 2 (referred to as R2), a robot astronaut with only upper body and upper limbs. R2 - as many people know - will fly their first trip to the ISS International Space Station along with six astronauts on the Space Shuttle Discovery early next month.

R2 model landed on the moon. (Photo: JSC)

R2 will be the first human astronaut in the world to be in space. On the ISS Station, she takes on the role of ' housewife '. It will also be challenged to work in a team with real astronauts. Then R2 will be completed to be able to fly on further flights, to the moon or Mars for example.

Plan M will also inherit other NASA achievements such as liquid oxygen and liquid methane rocket engines, which are inherently inexpensive and non-toxic. Plan M will also use an amphibious ship model to be invested by NASA on the moon with preeminent features such as avoiding rock collisions or falling to the ground.

Using the above technologies, Plan M saves a lot of time and money: The flight does not have to carry food and water and does not need to fly back to earth.

M Plan people said the robot astronauts they were developing would be full of limbs and walk like people. When landing on the moon, most movements of robonaut will be controlled from the center of the ground. It will be an endless source of inspiration for students, like the moon landing of Apollo 11 spacecraft 41 years ago that created a new generation of engineers and scientists.

Neil Milburn, Vice President of Armadillo Aerospace, a small Texas company participating in Plan M, said: ' According to me, Plan M will encompass some flames .'

No green light yet

However, Plan M is not yet an official NASA program. PC magazine quoted NASA spokesperson as saying that Plan M is just one of NASA's ' ideas '. It has not been given a green light by NASA. This also means that no funds are available to make it a reality.

Matthew Ondler, Director of Plan M, warmed: ' The current US space research study lags because there is no money and bureaucracy. We are very annoyed. We have many talents but don't make the most of it . '

NASA has a project to bring people back to the moon in the ambitious 2020 named Constellation. Although NASA has invested in this project of $ 10 billion to develop a new type of missile, the parliament is still inadequate when discussing the 2011 budget. The Obama administration also stopped funding this project because due to financial constraints.

Altemus expressed frustration in The New York Times : ' I always treat NASA as a Ferrari. Never before have we been allowed to hit the pedal . '

In short, Plan M is facing many difficulties. It has consumed 9 million USD but there is still a lot of work to do. Robonaut has the upper body. Due to lack of money, Armadillo Aerospace Company cannot build its legs. Armadillo is building a RR-1 amphibious model. NASA paid Armadillo $ 1 million but too little. Within 6 months, the RR-1 could only test for 18 times and 2 free flights.

The New York Times reported that Plan M was launched in March 2010 and the first flight could be made at the end of 2012. The robot launcher to the moon is hundreds of times easier than real people, it is ace. lesson of Plan M.