Gundam (ガンダム) is a metaseries of Japanese anime, featuring giant robots, or "mecha", created by Sunrise studios. The series started in April 1979 as a TV series called Mobile Suit Gundam, and later became a franchise name with more sequels, prequels, side stories and alternative timelines. Mobile Suit Gundam is said to have pioneered the real robot era of mecha anime. Unlike its super robot cousins, Gundam attempted a realism in the robot design and weaponry, by running out of energy and ammunition or breaking and malfunctioning. The technology is practical and is either derived from true science (such as Lagrange points in space and the O'Neill cylinder as a living environment) or at least well-explained, feasible technology, requiring only a few fictional elements to function. Gundam's realistic scientific setting has gained a reputation in the field itself as well. On July 18, 2007, when MIT's Astronautics Department's Professor Dava Newman displayed a biosuit, the suit was referenced as Mobile Suit Gundam's Normal Suit is now real by various news agencies. On February 14, 2008, when NASA proposed research into nuclear thermal rockets, Technobahn, a scientific journal in Japan, referred to the usage of nuclear thermal rocket engines on mobile suits in the Gundam universe. As part of the 30th Anniversary of the Gundam series, the company officially announced a project on 11 March, 2009 called Real-G to build a 1:1 real-size, scaled Gundam RX-78-2 statue in Japan. The project was finished in early June 2009 and opened to the public on July 11. It is located in Shiokaze Park on Odaiba island in Tokyo - wikipedia.