Video Game Developer Qualifies for Million Dollar NASA Prize

GameFreaks365 ^ | 9/13/2009 | Kyle

[Saije]

Video game developer John Carmack, better known for his work on Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein, has qualified for a million dollar prize from NASA. America's space agency challenged the nation's brightest minds to come up with a design contest known as the Lunar Lander Challenge. Carmack's team, known as Armadillo Aerospace, won $350,000 after taking first prize last year in NASA's Level 1 competition.

Now they are aiming for Level 2 and the million dollar prize. As MSNBC.com describes it: "The alcohol-fueled, pressure-tank-equipped rocket has to hang in the air for a minimum of 3 minutes during each leg of the round trip, and it has to land on a pad that is strewn with mock lunar boulders."

The judges will give Carmack and the rest of the ground crew just 135 minutes to fuel up, fly, refuel, fly again and secure the Super Mod after the flight. There will be built-in holds along the way, however, so the whole exercise could take longer than 135 minutes - in fact, Carmack is wondering whether the clock can be stopped if it starts raining."

The Armadillo team succeeded in their mission, but will not know if they won the million dollars until sometime in October. That is because other teams will get a chance at the million dollars. If multiple teams make it through the course, the team with the best average accuracy wins. Carmack has loftier goals than just the prize, though. "Eventually we're hoping to go all the way to orbit," he said.

[Saije]

So video games aren't a complete waste of time? Who knew.

[Terpfen]

So video games aren't a complete waste of time? Who knew.

Those of us who play them.

[Saije]

I concede the point.

[humblegunner]

I’m STILL getting my butt kicked by HALO 2.

[freedumb2003]

A million bucks for brushing the dust off of an old classic:

[gwilhelm56]

I quit when Pinball machines started going BEEP instead of DING

[montag813]

“Video games” are the future of everything, fortunately and unfortunaely. Fortunately, as in drones, and unmanned flights and spaceshots for high-risk missions, as human lives can be saved. Unfortunately for avatars and “Surrogates” (as in the new Bruce Willis flick), as human lives will be degraded and given even less meaning.

[Saije]

Well, I was being a little sarcastic there. I realize video games can have a utilitarian purpose and aren’t just for entertainment. I think the military may use them for training for example.

[The Comedian]

Starfleet will be built in spite of the federal government, not because of it. The USS Private Enterprise will be christened...

[Crazieman]

Carmack is generally regarded as a total genius. For almost two decades his innovations in realtime 3D software design have driven PC hardware development to accomodate his ideas.

[ari-freedom]

“I recently learned something quite interesting about video games. Many young people have developed incredible hand, eye, and brain coordination in playing these games. The air force believes these kids will be our outstanding pilots should they fly our jets.” Ronald Reagan

[ari-freedom]

[Saije]

I think it goes well beyond flying jets. I think video games have made the military personnel, the young guys, incredibly comfortable with all the technology that goes into warfare. They are so good with gadgets and using computers and IT to understand what’s going on, what needs to happen. A lot of that is from playing video games I think.

[Salgak]

You missed an important detail:

That’s “The United Federation of Planets, LLC”

A wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Pictures, Inc.

(evil grin)

[dr_lew]

Why is it called the Lunar Lander Challenge ? This is an Earth Lander, of course. OTOH, why not call it a Mars Lander ? ... or what the heck, a Titan Lander ?

Recall that NASA had a LEM trainer, built along these lines, which (famously) almost killed Neil Armstrong. It's much harder to build and operate this type of craft on the earth than it is on the moon. It is not really very good for training, and offers almost no relevance to the engineering for the corresponding lunar design.

[Saije]

Yeah, I thought the same thing.

Ha! Not really. I barely know what any of it means.

[USMCPOP]

Here’s an interesting Popular Mechanics article on the Carmack team from 2006. They have been at it for years.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/air_space/3381226.html

[USMCPOP]

Here’s an interesting Popular Mechanics article on the Carmack team from 2006. They have been at it for years.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/air_space/3381226.html

[dr_lew]

I barely know what any of it means.

It's just a question of scaling to 1/6 g, nominal lunar gravity. To "hover" (i.e. maintain zero vertical acceleration) on the earth requires a craft with 6 times the thrust as is required on the moon, for a craft of the same mass. This means a much bigger engine, so the whole thing has to be bigger for the same payload, which requires even more thrust, and the thing becomes a monstrosity.

Then in addition to this, time is effectively speeded up on earth by a factor ( as it turns out ) of sqrt(6), or about 2.5. For example, if you're hovering with zero vertical speed at 100 feet, and shut off the engine, on the earth you'll hit the ground in 2/5 the time, and with 5/2 the velocity as you would on the moon.

[KevinDavis]

For other space news go to: http://www.spacetoday.net