RadioShack to sponsor lunar rover's search for water

Computer illustration of the lunar rover

June 19, 2000
Web posted at: 9:06 a.m. EDT (1306 GMT)

From staff and wire reports

(CNN) -- RadioShack Corp. hopes to raise its profile to astronomical heights by placing its logo on a robotic rover that will explore the surface of the moon for signs of water.

As part of a sponsorship deal, the electronics giant agreed to contribute millions of dollars to LunaCorp., a small space exploration start-up planning to land a mobile lunar probe in 2003.

The so-called "Icebreaker" will use high-definition television cameras to search for ice deposits, thought to exist in permanent dark spots like craters in the polar regions. Humans in the future could possibly use such lunar water sources as fuel for space travel, scientists theorize.

At lunar high noon, the surface of the moon is hotter than boiling water. At midnight it is colder than liquid nitrogen. The Icebreaker will circle the moon at a high latitude to avoid the extreme temperatures.

Traveling at several kilometers an hour, it will circumnavigate Earth's natural satellite once every 29.5 days, the length of a lunar day.

"Our robot will enjoy 'lunar morning' temperatures all the time by staying in synch with the sun," said Dr. Red Whittaker, designer of the rover and chief scientist of the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

"The Apollo astronauts landed just a few days after dawn, and left long before noon. But for long-term exploration, we had to find another way to beat the heat and cold," he said in a statement last week.

In exchange for the payments, the Texas-based RadioShack would also be able to place its logo on a Web site and on science centers that LunaCorp hopes to establish. Internet users could be able to watch the rover's lunar adventures at RadioShack.com.

The deal presents "an original branding opportunity, as opposed to signs in baseball stadiums," said Jim McDonald, RadioShack vice-president for marketing, in a statement.

Virginia-based LunaCorp., which has developed private moon exploration technology since 1989, plans to raise more money for the project from additional corporate sponsors, Web site fees, ticket sales at science centers and the government.

The Robotics Institute plans to try out the rover design in the Canadian Arctic. NASA has offered a $1 million grant to fund the test, slated for July 2001.

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RadioShack
lunacorp
Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute

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