Reported March 2008

WHAT ARE ROBOTS: Robots are manmade machines intended to perform tasks. Robots are made of roughly the same components as human beings -- a body structure with moveable joints, a muscle system outfitted with motors and actuators to move that body structure; a sensory system to collect information from the surrounding environment, a power source to activate the actuators and sensors; and a computer "brain" system to process sensory information and tell the muscles what to do.

ABOUT THE MOON: The moon is Earth's only natural satellite, a cold, dry orb whose surface is studded with craters and strewn with rocks and dust. The moon's gravitational force is only 17 percent of the Earth's gravity. For example, a 100 pound (45 kg) person would weigh only 17 pounds (7.6 kg) on the Moon. The temperature on the Moon ranges from daytime highs of about 265° F (130° C) to nighttime lows of about -170° F (-110° C). The moon has no atmosphere. On the moon, the sky is always appears dark, even on the bright side because there is no atmosphere to scatter light. Also, since sound waves travel through air, the moon is silent -- there can be no sound transmission on the moon. The phases of the moon are caused by the relative positions of the earth, sun, and moon. The moon goes around the earth, on average, in 27 days, 7 hours, and 43 minutes. The sun always illuminates the half of the moon facing the sun (except during lunar eclipses, when the moon passes through the earth's shadow). When the sun and moon are on opposite sides of the earth, the moon appears "full" to us -- a bright, round disk. When the moon is between the earth and the sun, it appears dark -- a "new" moon. In between, the moon's illuminated surface appears to grow (wax) to full, then decreases (wanes) to the next new moon.

The American Geophysical Union, the American Astronomical Society, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.

If you would like more information, please contact:

David Wettergreen, Ph.D.
Carnegie Mellon University, Robotics Institute
(412) 268-5421
dsw@ri.cmu.edu

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. IEEE-USA
Washington, DC 20036-5104
(202) 785-001
http://www.ieee.org
ieeeusa@ieee.org

American Geophysical Union
Washington, DC 20009-1277
1-800-966-2481
http://www.agu.org

American Astronomical Society
Washington, DC 20009-1231
(202) 328-2010
http://www.aas.org
aas@aas.org