Certainly one of the stranger programs I ever worked on. Someone had the bright idea that NASA could be interested in the fact that hardware developed for the Strategic Defense Initiative could be of use to NASA.

Ah well. Among many other things that doomed this idea, it was of course NIH (Not Invented Here.) When an organization like NASA is told they might need help, their immediate reaction is seldom "Oh yes! Please show us what to do!"

Our mission was simple: Take some left over kill-vehicle (anti-ballistic missile) hardware and cobble it together to show that the miniaturized propulsion systems developed for SDI could be used to create a very small spacecraft capable of landing on the Moon or other extraterrestrial body.

Given our lack of money, resources, schedule etc., our logos, featuring our mascot, "The Splatcat", clearly reflected our frame of mind.

(Click images for larger views)

Amazingly enough we actually managed to accomplish all but one of our goals:

Things we did do:

Launch and soft-land a very small spacecraft using miniaturized bang-bang (not throttled) rocket engines.

Deliver and eject a small, autonomous roving science payload after landing.

Transmit video from the robotic rover (supplied by Rodney Brooks at MIT)

Things we failed to do:

Convince anyone at NASA that we could help them

Was it a silly stunt? Hard to say. All depends on you point of view I suppose...

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