NASA’s Lunabotics Mining Competition will be held for the fourth time from May 20-24 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This year, 50 teams from universities all over the world will take part in the competition. Each group will present a so called Lunabot, an excavator that can mine and deposit 10 kilograms of lunar simulant within 10 minutes.
NASA’s Fourth Annual Lunabotics Mining Competition is a university-level competition designed to engage and retain students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). NASA will directly benefit from the competition by encouraging the development of innovative lunar excavation concepts from universities which may result in clever ideas and solutions which could be applied to an actual lunar excavation device or payload.
The complexities of the challenge include the abrasive characteristics of the BP-1, the weight and size limitations of the Lunabot, and the ability to telerobotically or autonomously control the Lunabot from a remote mission control center.
Image credit: NASA