The Google Lunar X Prize competition continues to conjur some weird and wonderful spacecraft concepts from the drafting systems of the international entrants. Perhaps one of the strangest designs comes from Team Italia, a Naples-based aerospace firm co-ordinated by the International Association for the Aerospace Culture (AICA). The inspiration for TI's entry comes from the mind of Politecnico di Milano's robotics expert , professor Albert Rovetta. Rovetta's idea for lunar exploration is based on a bio-mechanical concept that involves mimicking the body structure of an arthropod - quite literally - Rovetta wants to send a mechanical spider/crab (or even swarms of them) to explore the Moon. Team Italia is currently hoping that its Spider-Bot swarm will be radical enough to inspire a visionary sponsor.
While not quite as complicated as TI's entry, ARCA's (Aeronautics and Cosmonautics Romanian Association) is no less impressive. ARCA hope to use a radical balloon system to launch a multistage rocket and payload Moonwards. Once in the vicinity of Luna, ARCA's system will deploy a simple sphere which will roll over the lunar surface. Again, funding is a key issue for the Romanians' hopes, but if their sponsorship drive is as creative as their launch concept, perhaps ARCA could be on the Moon's surface ahead of the competition.
Source:Space.com
Images: Team Italia\ARCA
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