After years of competition, NASA's moon dirt digging
challenge finally has some winners. Three different teams took home a total
$750,000 in prize money by using homemade robots to excavate simulated lunar
dirt.
For the first time in the three-year history of NASA's Regolith
Excavation Challenge, teams successfully completed the timed trial during a
competition held Oct. 18 at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field,
Calif.
The contest is part of NASA's Centennial
Challenges program, which offers cash prizes for technological feats in
order to spur interest and development in space technology.
First place went to the team Paul's Robotics of Worcester,
Mass., which took home the top $500,000 prize. Terra Engineering of Gardena,
Calif. won second place, with a purse of $150,000. Finishing third was
first-time competitor Team Braundo of Rancho Palos Verde, Calif., which took
home $100,000.
To win the prizes, competitors had to build a remote-controlled
robot that could dig at least 330 pounds (150 kg) of simulated moon dirt —
called regolith — and deposit it in a container within 30 minutes or less. The
robots must contain their own power source and weigh no more than 176 pounds
(80 kg).
"It's really encouraging that we saw three teams
achieve the minimum requirements and shows that innovation is not only alive
but growing," said Lynn Baroff, executive director of the California Space
Education and Workforce Institute and leader of the panel of judges. "It's
really great that through this competition NASA is actively seeking to
recognize citizen inventors from across the nation whose ideas may one day contribute
to space exploration."
Paul's Robotics, the first-place finisher, excavated 1,103
pounds of dirt within the half-hour time limit, while the second- and
third-place winners lifted 595 pounds and 580 pounds, respectively.
While lifting
a pile of dirt doesn't sound like much of a challenge, the simulated lunar
regolith, like the real thing, is difficult to dig because the individual
grains tend to stick together. The robot competitors had to be sturdy enough to
scoop the regolith and powerful enough to move through it, while still being
light enough to meet the weight requirements.
"This was an incredibly tough competition, and teams
came up with fantastic ideas, some of which might find use in future missions
to the moon," said Greg Schmidt, deputy director of the NASA Lunar Science
Institute at Ames. "It's great to have a winner this year. The biggest win
is getting so many talented young people involved in NASA's mission of
exploration."
The competition was supported by the California Space
Education and Workforce Institute and the California Space Authority, the NASA
Lunar Science Institute, Diani Building Corp. of Santa Maria, Calif., and
Empirical Systems Aerospace of Pismo Beach, Calif.
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