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PlayBook Moon Landing
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From the Forums: New group aims to put a BlackBerry PlayBook powered rover on the moon

By Michelle Haag on 25 Sep 2011 05:57 pm
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Back in June we posted about the Google Lunar X Challenge, The Part-Time Scientists, and a QNX powered moon rover. A group of ambitious Canadians were inspired by this project, and have started one of their own, PlayBook Moon Landing.
Our objective is to inspire Canada the way John F. Kennedy inspired the U.S. with the moon landings in the 1960's.  We are aiming to spark a generation of breakthrough innovation in Canada.  Our long term goal is to make Canada a world leader in high tech.
The goal of this open community project is to build a moon rover powered by a BlackBerry PlayBook and land it on the moon, where it could then be communicated with from Earth. They are just getting started in this endeavour, and you can follow their progress on Facebook or their website (www.playbookmoon.ca) and join in the discussion in the CrackBerry forums at the link below. 

Join the PlayBook Moon Landing discussion in the forums

Topics: From The Forums BlackBerry Playbook Moon Rover From The Forums...

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Michelle Haag Michelle Haag 1148 (articles) 1629 (forum posts)
25 comments

J_K_Resnick

I'm not from Canada but this sounds very innovating!

jsn204

i know its not a rim project

but gimme 2.0 first, then we'll worry about the moon ;)

jvictor77

The very words that came out of my mouth when I first read this!!!

BB_Bmore

makes sense since deep down we all know BlackBerry really derived from alien technology anyway...

Jawbone220

I'm thinking if there's ever a video contest around the time of their landing, they'll win.

PlaybookPlayboy

Cool, but will it work my Pearl 8110!?!

wobbly

Ipad powered rover on mars soon then !
At least they have a sense of humour :-)

Mr.Softberry

LOL watch the playbook crash when it lands on the moon xD
~ From a playbook owner (not a hater)

sk8er_tor

Wow, that was so funny. Too bad I forgot to laugh.

123berryaddicted

You'll probably laugh after 60 days... Maybe after summer? Hmmm... Ok... After devcon?

I know I know... Not funny...

jasonec

I read the website, and it seems a bit weird to me. Much of the hardware in the Playbook won't be of any use to the rover (e.g. the touchscreen ;-), so it would need to be custom hardware running QNX.

Also, one of their main goals is for people to send BBM messages to the Playbook on the moon - however, that can only happen if there is a paired BlackBerry that can do BBM (more custom hardware).

What would be more realistic is to design space-ready hardware (which use radiation-hardened silicon, like the RAD750 used on the next Mars rover). Then, that hardware could run QNX (a "space" edition, which would be tres cool) and have satellite communication that is paired to a control station on Earth, from which information can be sent to BBM users via the BlackBerry Infrastructure.

Jonathank

the 1st berry on the moon

Jonathan Kopycinski
MrKsBerry@Blogspot.com

kingbernie06511

Awesome PR stunt in the works!

They announce the rover a year after competitors. They deliver the rover 6 months later. Rover's software is incomplete, needs to rely on the hardware already present on the moon to do its work. Software updated remotely another 6 months later, despite early reporrts suggesting it would be done in only 4 mo.

When rover is finally up to snuff, its already surrounded by 50 rovers from competitors.

I love RIM, but lately it should be RISM.... the SM is for Slow Motion...

Michelle Haag

This project is in independant group of people, and has nothing at all to do with RIM, other than the product being used was made by RIM.

kingbernie06511

Seriously, it would be an awesome PR stunt.

but seriously, RIM has been slow in the past 2y...

stormsurvivor

Put it on the moon? They can't even put it on display in Staples!

The_Adventist

Not too many statements make me literally LOL but this one is for real!

steele_9

they need a bb phone with it so it can communicate. hope they have good cell service.

Commodus

If this paralleled the PlayBook launch, the moon landing team would claim it's totally going to kick the snot out of the NASA rovers... and then they'll launch it to the moon without wheels because they weren't ready in time, but that's okay because someone with a BlackBerry on Earth can move it around occasionally with rockets.

The PlayBook does some things well, but let's face it: using a tablet with unfinished software to steer a lunar rover isn't confidence inspiring!

Jadaworld

Hi anybody can help me my blackberry 9800 is not coming on. When it reboot it go to the first step and then go to second step which is the orange screen and that where it stop is a battery problem.

Commodus

That probably means the battery needs to be replaced, but you should really be visiting the forums (there's a link up top near the CrackBerry logo). Comments in a story aren't the best places to get help.

Siiid

Space Minutes are crazy Expensive!!!