Channel 11 Exclusive: Carnegie Mellon students get second chance to get their work on the moon
When Pittsburgh-based Astrobotics launched its Peregrine Lunar Lander in January 2024, a rover called Iris was on board. Carnegie Mellon students spent 10 years creating it by using phone parts and used materials.
While Peregrine was in space, Astrobotics turned on the rover and let the students operate while in space. But the excitement was short-lived. Peregrine had fuel issues, and it was intentionally crashed into the Pacific Ocean, just 10 days into the mission, short of the moon.
It was understandably a disappointment for the CMU students, but not entirely.
'We got to go to space. We proved students can command and build a rover,' said Iris science lead and CMU student Zach Muraskin.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE >>> CMU students who turned on rover during Astrobotic mission share their story
And now they're getting a second chance to reach the moon. This time it's in a different way and size. The team got space aboard Astrobotics' Griffin Lander, which is set to launch to the south pole of the moon later this year.
'We got money together to buy room for a stack of plaques, commemorating Iris and all the hard work that went into it,' said Iris Chief Engineer Connor Colombo. 'We also have images that tell our story, and additionally, we have a small cutout of the wheel of Iris in the shape of Iris.'
Channel 11 was there as the team prepared the payload — the exact item going on the lander. All the data is embedded in a little package, about the size of a quarter.
'We also had some other chips that we put in there, which have photographs and messages from the team and from alumni,' Muraskin said.
They also included the messages they sent to Iris while it was in space. Colombo's message was the second-to-last one sent, but possibly the most impactful.
'The message I sent was a proposal to my long-time fiancée asking her, 'Will you marry me?'' Colombo said, smiling.
It was another success. The two got married this summer. Their proposal, or the data from it, will now outlive them on the moon.
RELATED COVERAGE >>> Astrobotic discusses 'wild adventure' after Peregrine returns to earth
Right now, Colombo, who now works at Astrobotics, said they're still learning from Iris and the mission.
'The mission kind of actually didn't conclude last January,' Colombo said. 'It concluded in many ways last October when we got to present a series of papers at the International Astronaut Conference containing all of the lessons we've learned both in managing a program and getting something to space.'
>>> Pittsburgh-built lunar lander may not make it to the moon <<
>> 'No chance': Pittsburgh built lunar lander will touch down on moon after fuel leak, company says
'Everyone had different reasons for doing Iris, but a lot of it was the idea to create a legacy, either a legacy at CMU, a legacy in space, or your own legacy,' Colombo said. 'For me personally, in a very self-serving way, this helps create a legacy that lasts on the moon, something that outlasts us.'
Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
If I Could Buy and Hold Just 1 Stock Forever, This Would Be It
Demand for Nvidia's high-end chips remains intense. Despite its massive size, its top and bottom lines continue to rise rapidly. CEO Jensen Huang deserves to be recognized as one of the globe's best. 10 stocks we like better than Nvidia › Asking someone to pick just one stock of the thousands of publicly traded companies in the world is a daunting task. First of all, no portfolio should be built on a single company -- the best way to grow your wealth over time is with a diversified portfolio. But every portfolio has to have a starting point, and if I were starting mine from scratch -- and choosing individual stocks instead of an exchange-traded fund -- my first draft pick would be the unquestioned leader in generative artificial intelligence (AI): Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA). Here are three reasons why. Nvidia's long-established growth story got a fresh boost in 2023, when the explosion in demand for generative AI had customers scooping up Nvidia's graphics processing units (GPUs) as fast as its foundry partners could make them. GPUs are parallel processing chips -- tools designed for handling specific types of complex calculations that can easily be divided up into massive numbers of smaller tasks, each of which can be dealt with simultaneously, as opposed to calculations where tasks have to be dealt with sequentially. Most of the heavy lifting in the AI realm consists of computational work that parallel processors excel at, and those chips can be combined into huge clusters to work even faster. Nvidia has a remarkable 92% market share in the GPU market, according to estimates from Jon Peddie Research. Demand is intense for its new Blackwell chips, which are the successors to its popular Hopper chips. As CEO Jensen Huang said in the company's first-quarter earnings release: "Global demand for Nvidia's AI infrastructure is incredibly strong. AI inference token generation has surged tenfold in just one year, and as AI agents become mainstream, the demand for AI computing will accelerate. Countries around the world are recognizing AI as essential infrastructure -- just like electricity and the internet -- and Nvidia stands at the center of this profound transformation." Its competitive position is strengthened by its CUDA software platform, which, among other things, provides libraries and tools that help developers work on AI models that are powered specifically by Nvidia GPUs. Because CUDA is only compatible with Nvidia's chips, switching to another company's chips is more complex and expensive, which should help lock Nvidia's clients in for years to come. Nvidia was a solid company before its 2023 run-up. Its revenue in its fiscal 2023 (which ended Jan. 29, 2023) was $26.9 billion. That's nothing to sneeze at. But compare that to its latest fiscal year (which closed on Jan. 26, 2025), when revenue was $130.5 billion. Free cash flow was $60.7 billion, giving Nvidia incredible resources to continue to scale the business. Yes, that's right. The biggest publicly traded company in the world, with a market capitalization of $3.8 trillion, is still growing by leaps and bounds. In the first quarter of its fiscal 2026, Nvidia posted $44 billion in revenue, up 69% year over year. Net income was $18.77 billion (up 26%), and earnings per share came in at $0.76 (up 27%). Management's guidance is for fiscal Q2 revenue to be about $45 billion, which would be up 50% year over year. Most of the other biggest tech companies are customers of Nvidia -- Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Tesla -- because they need its GPUs for their data centers. Nvidia says that it expects data center expenditures to reach $1 trillion by 2028 -- and I fully expect it to pocket the lion's share of that money. Wall Street loves dynamic CEOs, and there have been plenty of them. Think of the late Steve Jobs from Apple, Meta Platforms' Mark Zuckerberg, and former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, just to name a few. Huang deserves to be part of that conversation, too. He founded Nvidia more than 30 years ago as a company that built gaming GPUs, then reinvented it to provide parallel processing power for a range of other tasks. Today, it's the world's top AI engine. Huang has the vision to see where the tech world is going and the types of tools that it will need to get there -- and he has made sure that Nvidia is in a position to deliver those products. That's why Nvidia is at the center of the AI conversation today. Nvidia is going to go as far as Huang takes it. And his leadership makes Nvidia stock more appealing. Nvidia is an outlier. You rarely see companies with this kind of competitive moat, free cash flow, and earnings growth all in one package. The stock is not cheap, trading at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 36.8. But that valuation isn't ridiculous, either, when you consider how fast the company is growing. While it would be a mistake to hold only Nvidia in your portfolio, I think it's a slam-dunk choice to be the first stock you pick. Before you buy stock in Nvidia, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Nvidia wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $699,558!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $976,677!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,060% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 180% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 30, 2025 Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Patrick Sanders has positions in Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. If I Could Buy and Hold Just 1 Stock Forever, This Would Be It was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Bitcoin Cash Rally Accelerates on Whale Activity and Bullish Technical Signals
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) traded at $482.54 on July 5, down 0.23% over the past 24 hours, following a broader retreat from its recent multi-month high, according to CoinDesk Research's technical analysis model. As for the broader crypto sector as gauged by the CoinDesk20 Index (CD20), it is up 0.27% during the same period. On July 1, BCH reached $526.5 — its highest price in eight months — as market enthusiasm, whale accumulation, and speculative inflows helped propel the token more than 75% higher over the past three months. The surge, briefly taking BCH above $528, coincided with a substantial increase in daily trading volume, which tripled to over 120,000 tokens exchanged within a 24-hour span. Much of the buying interest was attributed to capital rotation into mid-cap cryptocurrencies, as investors sought gains beyond the majors during a period of broader crypto market strength. On-chain fundamentals, however, remain lackluster. Daily active BCH addresses have dropped to a six-year low, suggesting that the rally is being driven more by speculation than by increased network utility. Despite this disconnect, technical indicators point to further upside potential. In late June, a golden cross formation appeared on BCH's hourly chart—where the 50-day moving average crossed above the 200-day MA—a historically bullish signal. Adding to the speculative momentum, open interest in BCH derivatives rose 27.4% this past week to $578 million. Analysts are watching the $478 to $508 range closely, viewing it as a key support zone that could stabilize the current pullback. On July 4, analytics firm IntoTheBlock reported a 122.45% increase in large whale transactions involving over $100,000 in BCH, totaling 957,440 tokens worth approximately $482 million. This sharp rise in high-value transfers echoed earlier activity spikes seen in February, May, and late June—all of which preceded major price movements. A separate development on July 5 raised further intrigue, when a 10,000-BCH transaction worth roughly $5 million was flagged just prior to the historic movement of 80,000 dormant BTC — valued at over $8.5 billion. Experts suggest the BCH transfer may have served as a key test of wallet access before executing the massive Bitcoin transaction, which was the largest of its kind in over a decade. Meanwhile, the Bitcoin Cash Foundation published its July 1 update highlighting the release of Knuth v0.68.0, which unifies the node's codebase and lays the groundwork for future UTXO efficiency upgrades. While no major adoption headlines emerged this week, smaller community projects continue to explore BCH-based micropayments and NFTs. Roger Ver, a longtime proponent of Bitcoin Cash, remains publicly active in promoting BCH as a scalable alternative to bitcoin, though his recent advocacy has not been accompanied by any new institutional product launches. Technical Analysis Highlights BCH traded within a $7.52 (1.57%) range between $481.83 and $489.35 from July 4 15:00 to July 5 14:00. Strong support was observed at $481.83 with elevated volume during the 04:00 hour on July 5. Resistance formed at $489.43, where repeated selling pressure capped gains. From 13:06 to 14:05 UTC on July 5, BCH gained $1.20 (0.25%), briefly breaking above $483.25 on rising volume. Support in the final minutes of the session formed between $483.35 and $483.45, with price peaking at $483.81 during the 14:03 candle. Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
OpenAI is betting millions on building AI talent from the ground up amid rival Meta's poaching pitch
In Silicon Valley's white-hot race for artificial intelligence supremacy, mind-boggling pay packages are part of the industry's recruitment push. At OpenAI, however, the company's residency program is tackling attracting and keeping top talent by looking outside of the industry altogether. The six-month, full-time paid program offers aspiring AI researchers from adjacent fields like physics or neuroscience a pathway into the AI industry, rather than recruiting individuals already deeply invested in AI research and work. According to Jackie Hehir, OpenAI's research residency program manager, residents aren't those seeking in machine learning or AI, nor are they employees of other AI labs. Instead, she said in a program info session, 'they're really passionate about the space.' So what's in it for OpenAI? Hot talent at cut-rate prices. While the six-figure salary puts OpenAI residents in the top 5% of American workers, it's a bargain in the rarefied world of AI, where the bidding war for talent has some companies tossing around nine-figure bonuses. By offering a foothold into the AI world, OpenAI appears to be cultivating talent deeply embedded in the company's mission. This strategy, spearheaded by CEO Sam Altman, has long been part of the company's approach to retaining employees and driving innovation. One former OpenAI staffer described the employee culture to Business Insider as 'obsessed with the actual mission of creating AGI,' or artificial general intelligence. Mission driven or not, OpenAI's residents are also compensated handsomely, earning an annualized salary of $210,000, which translates to around $105,000 for the six-month program. The company also pays residents to relocate to San Francisco. Unlike internships, the program treats participants as full-fledged employees, complete with a full suite of benefits. Nearly every resident who performs well receives a full-time offer, and, according to Hehir, every resident offered a full-time contract so far has accepted. Each year, the company welcomes around 30 residents. The qualifications for residents at OpenAI are somewhat unconventional. In fact, the company claims there are no formal education or work requirements. Instead, they hold an 'extremely high technical bar' at parity to what they look for in full-time employees as it pertains to math and programming. 'While you don't need to have a degree in advanced mathematics, you do need to be really comfortable with advanced math concepts,' Hehir said. As OpenAI attempts to build talent from the ground up, its rivals, namely Meta, are pulling out all the stops to poach top AI talent with reports alleging that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally identified top OpenAI staff on what insiders dubbed 'The List' and attempted to recruit them with offers exceeding $100 million in signing bonuses. Meta's compensation packages for AI talent can reportedly reach over $300 million across four years for elite researchers. The flood of cash has ignited what some insiders call a 'summer of comp FOMO,' as AI specialists weigh whether to stay loyal to their current employers or leave for record-breaking paydays. Zuckerberg's methods have had some success, poaching a number of OpenAI employees for Meta's new superintelligence team. In response to news of the employees' departure, OpenAI's chief research officer, Mark Chen, told staff that it felt like 'someone has broken into our home and stolen something.' Meanwhile, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called Meta's recruitment tactics 'crazy,' warning that money alone won't secure the best people. 'What Meta is doing will, in my opinion, lead to very deep cultural problems,' Altman told employees in a leaked internal memo this week. Ultimately, cultivating new talent, rather than trying to outbid the likes of Meta, may prove a more sustainable path for OpenAI in its quest to stay highly mission-oriented while supporting an industry grappling with a scarcity of top-tier talent. Estimates suggest there are only about 2,000 people worldwide capable of pushing the boundaries of large language models and advanced AI research. Whether the talent cultivated by Altman and OpenAI will remain loyal to the firm remains unknown. But Altman says that AI 'missionaries will beat mercenaries.' This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
