| Website | www.part-time-scientists.com |
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The Part-Time Scientists became the first German team to officially enter the Google Lunar X-Prize competition on June 24, 2009.[1] Their goal is to reach the moon before the Lunar X-Prize deadline of December 31, 2012.
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The Part-Time Scientists plan to use a Falcon 1e rocket, produced by Space Exploration Technologies, to launch their spacecraft into low earth orbit (LEO).
The Cloud Communication Network consists of a globally distributed network of transmitting and receiving stations. This distribution allows for uninterrupted 24/7 communication with the moon or Mars. Current plans are for this network to make use of the unencrypted amateur bands at 10.0–10.5 GHz and 2.4 GHz.
A test network, consisting of 15 link stations connected to a server, will be built in 2010. The network will be designed to take advantage of existing satellite communication facilities. The Cloud Communications Network is being developed under a Creative Commons license.
More information on this project can be found at the COMRAY project website.
A new software tool, "PresenTationS", was presented at the 26th Chaos Communication Congress (26C3). "PresenTationS" is being developed and released under the GNU General Public License (GPL). The software supports numerous transition effects and graphics formats. Various adjustable parameters make it possible to generate animations with film-like image effects. There are also plans to integrate additional features, such as videos and video conferencing embedded directly into the presentation.
The "PresenTationS" software is based on a cross-platform library developed by PTS and is available under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL).
On August 22–23, 2009, the Part-Time Scientists presented their project at the Open Doors Day of the Federal Ministry for Education and Research.
On December 28, 2009, the team presented their mission at the 26th annual Chaos Communication Congress. In a two hour presentation, the team provided a detailed overview of all parts of the project. This was the first time the European-made private lunar rover prototype had been presented to the public.[2][3]
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