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Carnegie Mellon Hopes Vehicle Will Drill on Moon

Robotics researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh are hoping a lunar vehicle being built by a spinoff venture will enable scientists to drill below the Moon's surface for ice which, scientists hope, might contain chemicals that could be used to fuel space vehicles.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Robotics researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh are hoping a lunar vehicle being built by a spinoff venture will enable scientists to drill below the Moon's surface for ice which, scientists hope, might contain chemicals that could be used to fuel space vehicles.

The CMU Robotics Institute and the spinoff firm, Astrobotic Technology Inc., are hoping to launch the Polaris prototype unveiled Monday on a rocket bound for the moon in October 2015. The company still has to raise $100 million to $150 million to launch the robot on a Space X Falcon 9 rocket.

The vehicle is powered by solar energy.

Scientists are hoping to find methane and ammonia in the lunar ice in concentrations that they might be burned as fuel. They say that remains to be seen.

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