engineering

SpaceMETA

SpaceMETA is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand SpaceMETA rather than just read about it. In short: SpaceMETA is a Brazilian group founded in 2010 to explore aerospace opportunities motivated by Google Lunar X Prize competition. As of 2012, SpaceMETA was one of the less than 30 active teams selected to participate in a competition that offers US$30 million to the team that first lands on the lunar surface and achieves several milestones (landing a robot on the surface of the Moon, traveling 500 meters over the lun…

Key takeaways

SpaceMETA belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect SpaceMETA to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of SpaceMETA from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

SpaceMETA is a Brazilian group founded in 2010 to explore aerospace opportunities motivated by Google Lunar X Prize competition. As of 2012, SpaceMETA was one of the less than 30 active teams selected to participate in a competition that offers US$30 million to the team that first lands on the lunar surface and achieves several milestones (landing a robot on the surface of the Moon, traveling 500 meters over the lunar surface, and sending images and data back to the Earth). In its first mission, SpaceMETA decided to participate in bringing rupture ideas to the race, considering using at a minimum level conventional and already-used space technologies and solutions. SpaceMETA was the last team to be selected by the X Prize Foundation to participate in the GLXP, and the only one selected from Brazil.

History SpaceMETA was initially sponsored by Intel Corporation, which has the first right refusal for a first round of investment on a success case basis.

Founders SpaceMETA was founded by Sergio Cabral Cavalcanti, a researcher from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

Teams First Team ( 2010 ) SpaceMETA first Team was formed by

Sergio Cabra; Cavalcanti ( founder ) Juliana Laxe Nelson Marques Laurent Gil Several professors from UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) and UERJ (State University of Rio de Janeiro) After 10 years of Project development, several world roadshows with Google GLXP, and fundraising, SpaceMETA began building its second team. It changed its initial goal to a low orbit goal to deploy an ionic-powered engine for a power test before starting a moon movement. Second Team (2020)

Sergio Cabral Cavalcanti (founder) Juliana Laxe Davi Clemente Monteiro Correia Scientist Charles Duvoisin Instituto IBCI

Joint Venture with Synergy Moon SpaceMETA and several other teams have joined Synergy Moon as one of the five finalist teams to land on the Moon using a possible Orbital Rocket as a primary payload or an Indian rocket as a second payload. As a premise to not use a commodity project Falcon 9 from SpaceX, the founder of SpaceMETA, Sergio Cabral Cavalcanti, has declared that the team was more interested in an independent innovation once Falcon 9 has Merlin Engine – no news different from Saturn V from Rockectdine engines, despite its fantastic technology project.

Mission overview

SpaceMETA Mission Overview Summary, as presented to the X Prize Committee, has proposed several rupture innovation approach for its mission. The disclosed innovations are related to the following technical approaches:

Usage of ethanol as rocket fuel Launch the vehicle not from the ground but a lifted launch using balloons / auxiliary craft Usage of inflatable structures instead, to transport big things that should be armed there (like antennas and solar panels) Infinity Motion – SpaceMETA doesn't use a conventional energy system to create movement on the moon rover (called Solitaire (x-Frog and x-Blob)), but a NITINOL and Coil based kinetic energy converter called Infinity Motion. Send information to the Earth not using electromagnetic waves, but a special Optical Modulation reflecting the solar light During the movement of the Lunar Modules on the Surface, usage of the contact/impact process, so embedded sensors will capture the echoes above the surface Geographically, SpaceMETA plans to visit some SETI / Scientific related sites of interest on the Moon

Gallery

References

Intel Sponsorship to SpaceMETA [1] News on SpaceMETA [2] SpaceMETA on the Epoca Magazine [3] SpaceMETA on the ISTOE Magazine [4] SpaceMETA Joint venture with Synergy Moon [5] Patent Eletromagnetic Protection at al [6]

External links Official website Official SpaceMETA website at GLXP About Intel Sponsorship to SpaceMETA [7] About SpaceMETA SocialNet Facebook [8] About Founders Sergio Cabral Cavalcanti Interview [9] SpaceMETA – Intel Interview [10] Eletromagnetic Tinta Aeroespacial – Eletromagnetic [11]

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with SpaceMETA

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what SpaceMETA claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to SpaceMETA before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about SpaceMETA ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of SpaceMETA

In research: SpaceMETA appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses SpaceMETA in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: SpaceMETA is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Aerospace companies of Brazil, Brazilian brands, Brazilian companies established in 2000, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for SpaceMETA outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study SpaceMETA in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what SpaceMETA means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain SpaceMETA out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is SpaceMETA in simple terms?

Why does SpaceMETA matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study SpaceMETA?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on SpaceMETA.