Saturday morning at ISDC was the GLXP Panel. Michael Doornbos, of evadot.com, interviewed six Google Lunar X Prize teams: Team FREDNET, Omega Envoy, Part-Time Scientists, Team Jurban, Rocket City Space Pioneers, and Team Penn State Lunar Lion. I got the honor of representing Part Time Scientists in this panel. I also got the honor of meeting these teams and having some interactions outside of the panel.
The panel format was interesting - no table, no formality between us and the audience. Michael's questions were even atypical for a technology conference. But if you know Michael or his work at EvaDot, you will know that the GLXP is about more than technology to him. It’s about the story. It’s about making this incredibly cool contest to send a robot to the Moon more accessible to the public and more engaging for the kids who are watching us.
After the initial round of prepared statements, things started to get real and the differences in philosophy slowly began to show themselves. Team FREDnet and Rocket City Space Pioneers were literally on opposite ends of the stage and practically on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to their core beliefs on intellectual property and philosophical approach towards winning the competition. FREDnet is going for a completely open source approach with participation by anyone who wants to contribute. Tim Pickens described the RCSP (perhaps jokingly) as ‘the corporate team’. The rest of the teams were not so conveniently arranged on this spectrum, but all of us fell someone in between these two extremes.
In the end, all of the teams have roughly the same checklist of tasks that must be done. We don't all agree on the relative importance of each task, and its these differences that change everything. To me, this is the most beautiful part of the contest. I'm a software developer and a big fan of machine learning and optimization techniques such as Simulated Annealing and Genetic Algorithms. These algorithms find optimal solutions by starting from many different points in the parameter space and then seeing how each evolves on its own. Solution points that go nowhere drop out while others gain increasing relevance as their parameters prove to be more and more optimal. Not all potential solutions end up where they are supposed to be, but there is always at least one that wins. It's a beautiful thing to watch an optimal solution emerge.
At one point during the panel, someone suggested that we put all of the teams on the same ride into orbit. From there it would be a free-for-all to the lunar surface. While the idea had a certain appeal to it, it was obvious that most teams consider their ride to orbit as an essential part of their winning strategy.
Eventually, Michael asked the hardest question of them all: “So, what is your story?” He wasn't asking for our sales pitch, nor our mission plan, nor our accounting sheet. He's asking for the core, essential, human elements that will connect us to investors and our fans. Repeating the mantra "because space is cool" doesn't always resonate with the general public. Well then, what does? Just what is the real story for each team that will engage and fascinate anyone who cares to follow along?
Frankly, I don't think any of us answered that question very well, and probably for good reason. None of us are writing a new book. We're trying to write an amazing new chapter in a book that had previously ended with the strong message that space is difficult, expensive, and only for governments. Every time we talk to people, we have to convince them that those words are no longer true. Everything you think you know about what it takes to do something meaningful in space must be challenged. This takes time. This takes patience. It mandates trust. "Hell Yeah, It‘s Rocket Science!" conveys our enthusiasm, and can get us in the door the first time. Competence, confidence, wisdom, and patience will get us follow up meetings. It all starts slow, but will gain tremendous momentum over time.
The Teams Off-Line (by Wes)
The GLXP panel wasn't the only time I got to spend with the other teams. In fact, I've chatted online with Blaze Sanders of Team JURBAN some time ago. At last year's Maker Faire, I showed a 3D display demo. The project inspired a student team at John's Hopkins University to reproduce and improve the design. Since Blaze also attends Johns Hopkins University, I had asked him to check in on them, which he did. It was good to meet with him face-to-face, share a few words, and finally put a voice to the online chat.
It turns out Fred Bourgeois and I have the same Android phone. He spotted me Tweeting outside of the Space Investment Summit on Wednesday and casually grabbed a chair. As my shock of unexpectedly meeting another GLXP team slowly wore off, we chatted briefly about the summit. He had some good advice for anyone with new idea in Huntsville: You should lock down your intellectual property rather aggressively before you even think about opening your mouth. As it turns out, this was not only good advice, but it also seemed to fit what was said between-the-lines many times at the summit.
After the panel, Fred, myself, and Michael Policelli of Penn State Lunar Lion bumped into each other near the Space Camp Multi-Axis Trainer. Fred had already tried the ride, braving the 3D tumble for 3 minutes. We playfully batted around the idea of submitting videos of each other’s ride to the GLXP blog. Fred already had his video, so it was my turn. First of all, I barely fit. My height is on the edge of too tall for the ride, and my shoes barely fit in the slots. Second, none of that really mattered, because ten seconds after the spinning started, I decided that I liked the default distribution of my blood supply. After that, I think I tried to politely ask for the ride to stop. How politely, we may never know. As I staggered to the gate, Fred leaned in and said "Umm... I'm just going to delete your video." I could only reply, "Yeah, thank you."
Michael Policelli was up next. He got all strapped in, looking very much like some kind of secret agent in his pristinely pressed suit and tie. I do believe he got more comfortable as the minutes ticked by. A few minutes in, we heard the following exchange. In his best British accent, Michael queried into Fred's video camera "Do you expect me to talk?" Not missing a beat, Fred chimed in "No Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!" But die he did not. At 5 minutes, the ride operator cut it off. My hat's off to both of them.
Later on, I caught up with Michael Doornbos and Wayne Hall of Kentucky Space. We roamed and chatted for a while. But Michael's feet were hurting, so we ended up in an (empty?) vendor booth in the exhibitors’ hall. The conversation was just picking up when Dave from Rocket City Space Pioneers came by. At first, we thought he wanted his chair back (chairs were hard to come by in the vendor hall and some creative appropriation might have been done). But, as it turns out, he wanted to say hello after seeing me on the panel. Like Tim Pickens, who sat next to me on the panel, Dave is friendly, outgoing and just plain interested in space. It's always a pleasure to share that kind of energy and enthusiasm about a common interest. Dave invited us all to the Space Ambassadors reception (with an open bar) which was starting in a few minutes. As we got up to leave, I think I heard the sonic boom of the chair returning to the Dynetics booth. Either that or it was my spine still crackling from the 3D tumble.
As for the rest of the conference; well anyone that was there can attest to the “whirlwind” that accompanied the closing moments of the ISDC. A fitting end to a whirlwind of a conference. As for the rest of the GLXP teams; perhaps next time we'll bond over an impromptu pinewood derby race - lunar rover style.
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