DALTON BRobots News

 Dalton BRobots Moonbots 2014 video

Dear members of the DaltonBRobots team, my name is Daniel Selva, and I am Assistant Professor in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University. Your sheriff Carlos e-mailed sent me the link to your website and video, and asked me for an "expert" opinion. After reading your blog and watching the video, I can only start by saying that these are the kind of experiences that inspire us teachers and aerospace researchers to keep on working.

Not only is your video scientifically enticing and accurate, with references to advanced concepts such as the Gauss Cannon or the Yarkovsky Effect, it is also educational for the general public, and truly fun to watch. I certainly wish the video were longer to be able to see in more detail some of your accomplishments. In any case, the design of the ring-shaped painter spacecraft definitely is a provocative new idea that proposes a new kind of maneuver in space, different from landing and docking, which for lack of a better name I will call "passing through". It is simply amazing to see what a group of kids can put together when their raw talent and motivation are masterfully steered by the right mentors. One can only imagine what they will be able to do in a few years! This is exactly the kind of people we need to make our plans to build a settlement on the Moon come true, be it for protecting us from NEO, for obtaining valuable resources, or simply for learning valuable skills that we will need to colonize other planetary bodies of the solar system, such as Mars. I sincerely hope you will consider a career in aerospace science or engineering, perhaps in our aerospace department at Cornell University, where I would be honored to work with you. In the meanwhile, I can but offer you my humble help - within my possibilities - in whatever endeavor you choose to take in the future. Keep up the good work! Best regards, ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Prof. Daniel Selva Assistant Professor Faculty Fellow, Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Cornell University 212 Upson Hall Ithaca, NY 14850