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So, whats happening?

Heidi Nielsen — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 23:50:55 -0700

Taken from: Team FREDNET NEWSLETTER #1 juni 2008

Welcome to the new newsletter from FREDNET. Hope you find the news you're looking for. Since this is my first ever newsletter, there might be some glitches and missing information, but hopefully, you'll all help me keep it up to date!

Strasbourg:
We were among those fortunate enough to go to the summit, total for FREDNET was actually 7(!) which was pretty impressive, since most teams had only 2 or 3 attending.

We got a lot of work done, and had a few talks with some of the other key members of FREDNET. We did a summary of the mission plan and even had a long talk with Bogdan from Team ARCA, who (in a crash course) taught us some of the finer arts of Mission Management (1/3 of my vacation pictures are of white boards with his scribblings..)

The big plan:
So, we're sending something to the moon. And the big outline of the plan is as follows:
We're hoping to rent some space on an already scheduled launch, since its too expensive for our little rover to be sent up alone.
Our rover (and Lunar Bus + Lander) - we're designing and building these ourselves including the guidance and control software.
The bus will be ion-driven, so it'll take something like 1-3 months from launch till we actually get to the moon.
The rover is gonna be small, as in cellphone size. We're using a method called rapid-prototyping to build multiple iterations of the final rover. In the end, we may end up with 2 or 3 rovers, but that hasn't been decided yet, that will depend on the total mass of the final system.

For now it is mostly a lot of planning, and figuring out how to actually build these crafts. There were also a long discussion on the summit regarding the rule, which leads to the X Prize Foundation's rules committee are proposing some revised rules, which are due to be final the 1st of August. As an example, the new rule adding 500 grams of payload would be a huge burden for our little craft. It appears that may be modified, so that smaller craft won't have to carry more than 10% of their total mass. In the meantime, we are proceeding with our design: after all, we do have a race to win.

The man behind it all, FRED:
My name is Fred. I live near Santa Cruz, California, which is in the Central Coast section of California, halfway between the California borders with Oregon and Mexico.
I am a little older than my teeth, and not quite as old as my tongue.
I have worked on a little bit of everything: Computer Science, Teaching (University, and Commercial), Software Development, Programming Languages, Compilers, Software Tools, Cryptology, Networking, Computer Security, Internet Services (I built quite a few ISPs back when that was the thing to do in Silicon Valley), Software Development Consulting, and general "Hacquing". Note that the word "Hacque" was coined by me and a few friends back in the early 1980s to describe what we did (write eloquent software solutions) as opposed to what the way the media was misusing the term and mis-applying it to "crackers" (those who broke into computer systems for fun and profit). That is, we deemed ourselves "Hacquers" instead of "Crackers". Of course "Hacquer" is also the French spelling of "Hacker", which fits since my last name has French origins. If you happen to be driving around in Silicon Valley, you might also note that my car's license plate is "HACQUER".
Why did I join Team FREDNET? Well, somebody had to do it! I might as well be first.
My title on the project? Well I guess "Leader" will have to do.
My group's purpose: My group's purpose is to make sure we all get to the Moon!
And on that note: Keep the forums alive, they are the backbone of the project!
Thats all, and clear skies for you all!

FREDNET at Google Lunar X PRIZE Summit, Strassbourg 2008

Heidi Nielsen — Sat, 24 May 2008 10:09:54 -0700

Hi there!
So, I guess I'll introduce myself shortly. My name is Heidi Nielsen, I come from Denmark and I'm 29 years old. I was in Strassbourg (as a tourist) with my husband, who was supposed to attended the Google Lunar X PRIZE Summit, and now (it seems) i'm blogging for Team FREDNET, doing a newsletter, and some other stuff....
So, why Team FREDNET? Well, guess it's the more or less only way in, for someone who has no experience, no hands-on, know nothing about space, but still wanna do something, as going to the moon :)
Anyways it was some awesome days in Strassbourg, tho i didnt get to see much of town, as I might wanted prior to the trip. For me the 2nd day was by far the most interesting day. The first day went mostly by going over the rules (which I never did read, since I wasnt in any team, nor really attending...) and the student competition (which was very interesting). They had some very nice ideas, and we did set up a meeting or 2 afterwards with some of the students, in hope of incorporating them into Team FREDNET.
Wednesday was to begin with a big media event. Press conference from 9 – 11 including introduction of 4 new teams, one of them being a secret entry so far. After that, the most interesting part for me atleast: 3 sessions with 'lessons learned from historical lunar missions', 'launch, landing and communications' and 'future customers', 3 sessions of what have been done in the past with lunar missions, to what to expect currently, and what to do in the future. Here we had the opportunity to listen (and learn) from some who actually been involved in projects that actually went to the moon. It was atleast to me, a huge experience. Team FREDNET stayed for another 2 days to get some outlines for the next couple of years, and to get to know the others from the team.
So got home 14 hours ago and been sleeping most of the time, we've picked up the cat and ordered takeout for tonight, just intending to be home and relax the rest of the weekend.... Thats it for now, Blogg on later, when something new comes up!

We're all doing our video blogs!

calyxseinc — Wed, 21 May 2008 08:12:20 -0700

Colleague team member Colleen takes a brave, bold step to video blog today as part of training with the Google Lunar X Prize teams at the first International Team Summit. As you can see, she has risen to the challenge and has posted her own first video blog on You tube!

- Taken by Karen of Team FREDNET

Team FREDNET Leader Fred Bourgeois interviewed on the Popular Mechanics Show podcast

frednet — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:15:55 -0700

As you may already know, the June issue of Popular Mechanics cover article is all about the Google Lunar X PRIZE. All the teams are mentioned. The article is not available yet online, you'll have to go buy a copy if you want to read it, but you can see the cover here.

In the companion Popular Mechanics Show podcast, Team FREDNET Leader Fred Bourgeois III is interviewed about the current status of the Team FREDNET effort and where Team FREDNET is going after the prize is won. Listen to the podcast here. If you wish to skip to the Fred interview go to 21:25 in the program, but we recommend you listen to the whole podcast - lots of good lunar and space discussion.

Maker Faire

frednet — Mon, 12 May 2008 18:58:27 -0700

Team FREDNET has been quite busy over the past 6 weeks. So busy in fact, that it's going to require a few postings to bring everything back up to speed. Certainly one of the most exciting events was Team FREDNET's participation in Maker Faire on May 3^rd and 4^th. Fred Bourgeois, Wade Butcher, Jay and Jennifer Vasa, and Jim Smith valiantly manned the booth, which turned out to be quite popular. Over the course of the weekend event, the booth saw hundreds of interested visitors, some buying the sleek new Team FREDNET t-shirts, while others just had fun playing with the rovers. Fred was kept busy with interviews, including RoboCon Magazine, Make:TV, and others. The booth also received the attention of the Make Magazine editors, who bestowed upon the Team one of the twelve coveted Editor's Choice blue ribbons.

Overall, quite a few visitors ended up volunteering for the team, which is always great news. The Team took plenty of photos during the weekend, we'll post them soon. Overall, the general consensus was that Maker Faire was an exciting triumph.

In other news, a video which didn't quite make it in time for Maker Faire has made its way on to the Team's YouTube channel.

The video created by recently-joined Team animator Alan Tupper is a short promotional spot for the Team. According to Alan, there are other videos in the making which, he claims, will only get better.

Up Next Post: The Strasbourg Team Summit, Progress made, and an update on the FREDNET team.

CNBC Covers Frednet

frednet — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:48:38 -0700

Jane Wells of CNBC spoke with Fred Bourgeois, Rich Core, and Kevin Boyd regarding Team Frednet. Jane was given a chance to pilot the test rover from a laptop in San Jose, CA. The rover itself was located on a simulated moon surface in Ann Arbor, MI. Jane makes it clear that driving a rover that is over 2,300 miles away is no easy task, but the accomplishment stands as a step forward for Team Frednet.

Click Here...
for the video on CNBC
Click Here...
for Jane's article