Tour X, the Moonshot Factory
Tour X, the Moonshot Factory
THIS FIELD TRIP IS FULL.
- Registration fee: $20 (lunch included)
- Organizer: Donna Alvarado
- Sponsored by: Alphabet’s X
Go inside the Moonshot Factory.
NOTE: Start and end times given for field trips are the times when the trips depart from and return to the Marriott Marquis San Francisco.
X, (formerly known as Google [x]), is a moonshot factory with the mission of incubating new breakthroughs in science or technology to solve huge problems that affect millions of people. X is home to engineers, scientists, makers, and inventors who apply audacious thinking to huge problems to make the world a better place using technology.
Projects at X include:
- Project Loon — a system of balloons, carried by winds in the stratosphere, designed to deliver Internet access to rural, remote and underserved areas down on earth below at speeds similar to today’s LTE networks.
- Makani — a new kind of wind turbine that takes its inspiration from kitesurfing to produce clean renewable energy. Makani hopes to accelerate the shift to clean, renewable energy with this new type of wind turbine that can access stronger and steadier winds at higher altitudes to generate more energy with less material.
- Project Wing — an aerial delivery system using self-flying vehicles. This team is exploring new approaches to the transportation and delivery of goods—options that are cheaper, faster and more environmentally sensitive than what’s possible today on the ground.
X was also home to the self-driving car project, now called Waymo, as well as other groundbreaking projects like Google[x] Life Sciences, now called Verily, which was created to help shift healthcare from reactive to proactive through initiatives such as the Smart Contact Lens and Nanodiagnostics.
Come meet the people behind these projects and others at the X campus. During a half-day session, X’s Captain of Moonshots, Astro Teller, will explain how X applies unconventional thinking and radical new technology to solve huge problems. The visit will include time for Q&A with him and others at X. Capping it off, will be lunch at the end of the session.
Buses will leave the Marriott at 8:30 am, arriving at the X campus in Mountain View, CA, for a 9:30 am start. Buses depart after lunch at 1:30 pm to return to the Marriott.
Twitter: @TheTeamatX
Above: X, Project Loon.