A leading Google Lunar X PRIZE contender partners with a nationally known alumni group
Team FREDNET (TF), a Google Lunar X Prize contender headquartered in Huntsville, AL, has announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Air and Space Education Consortium (ASEC), an alumni group of Broward College with a focus on the development of payloads for orbital and suborbital space missions. The MOU was signed by Fred J. Bourgeois, III for Team FREDNET and Prof. Rolando Branly of ASEC. This MOU allows the two parties to consult on mutually beneficial projects.
"We are pleased", states Bourgeois, "to bring Broward on with our team. They bring much needed experience building, designing and deploying 'Smallsats' [small satellites] and 'CubeSats' from their previous Space Shuttle missions. We look forward to capitalizing on their expertise for space-qualifying our components on pre-GLXP Mission flights."
Professor Branly notes the benefits derived from working with Team FREDNET: "In a world of exponential change we can no longer be satisfied by linear improvements. Our group believes that linear bottleneck limitations on improvements can be overcome by an open source approach that welcomes everyone with the enthusiasm for work and human exchange. Team FREDNET has opened an unprecedented space exploration social experiment. Even with limited success, the realm of space exploration will never be the same. Joining Team FREDNET was the opportunity we longed for in the quest for open space (pun intended)."
ABOUT TEAM FREDNET
Team FREDNET, the Open Space Society, Inc. based in Huntsville, AL is comprised of an international group of Open Source developers, engineers, scientists, and entrepreneurs. Founded by Fred Bourgeois and associates in 2007, our goal is to win the Google Lunar X PRIZE (GLXP) by bringing the same successful approach used to develop major software systems (such as the Internet and Linux) to bear on the problems associated with space exploration and research. Team FREDNET has already made great strides in reaching the public: more than 600 volunteers from 63 countries have joined our efforts. We have working relationships with faculty and students from major research universities such as University of Virginia, Polytechnic University of Catalonia (Spain) and Queens University (Canada), with more such partnerships still to be announced. We have also established a non-profit Open Space Foundation to provide ongoing incentives, education, and funding to individuals and organizations seeking opportunities in this final frontier after our GLXP goal is complete.
ABOUT ASEC/BROWARD
Air and Space Education Consortium is an alumni group of Broward College dedicated to educating people about the opportunities of Aerospace Research. ASEC is working on an Open source approach for payload development and design; a concept that includes the use of the internet and off the shelf technologies.
For additional information on this release, visit the Official Team FREDNET website:
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