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Nasa Prize Proves Elusive As Moon Excavators Struggle in Sandbox
The 2008 Regolith Excavation Challenge had half of its arriving competitors (8 teams) struggling to navigate on the lunar simulant this year, but innovators appear undaunted and driven to succeed for next year.
/Aerospace - Aviation PR News/ - SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA, August 05, 2008 - Eight teams competing in the 2008 Regolith Excavation Challenge came up short in winning the NASA purse of $750,000, but more determined to compete in a rematch for 2009. The regolith event, co-hosted by the California Space Education Workforce Institute (CSEWI), California Space Authority (CSA), and California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo required teams to build autonomous lunar excavators capable of digging 150 kg of simulant, place it in a collector, within 30 minutes.
Twenty-five teams registered for the challenge. Sixteen teams traveled to San Luis Obispo to compete with half that number withdrawing due to last-minute mechanical and logistical problems. The final teams to compete were:
* Waldbaum, Sunnyvale, CA
* Next Step, Houston, TX
* Tech Ranch, Arroyo Grande, CA
* LunOreDiggers, Denver, CO
* Cal Poly Slobotics, San Luis Obispo, CA
* Team of One, Detroit, MI
* Toy Garden, Friday Harbor, WA
* Boppers, Huntington Beach, CA
"By afternoon, it had become apparent that the moon excavators were struggling," says Wil Simon, CSA/CSEWI Regolith Media Advisor. "The teams from last year's competition had shown they could overcome the challenge of the lunar simulant soil, but this year was different and based more on building an effective autonomous unit."
"Overcoming the new rules requiring an autonomous system that could navigate on the soil was the big challenge in 2008," observed Chris Welch, team member with Colorado's LunOreDiggers. "Autonomous navigation, building a roving excavator is a very time-straining effort."
For more information, contact Eric Daniels, CSA Director of State and Local Government Relations at 916-551-1543. |
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