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NASA Challenges Students to Design Tools for Moon Rovers

Written by thomas · Filed Under Aeronautics News 

September 30, 2008

thomas

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — A new NASA contest
challenges college-level students to design tools or instrument packages
that could be used on the next generation of human-driven moon rovers.
Student will have the opportunity to engage in NASA’s return to the moon by
designing equipment that will help astronauts accomplish tasks on the lunar
surface.

Moon explorers will need to navigate in darkness around the moon’s
south pole and collect lunar regolith, or moon dust, for on-site analysis
and radiation detection. They will need to communicate with Earth, a lunar
outpost and spacecraft orbiting the moon. Moon inhabitants also will
conduct video surveys of the moon’s surface for transmission back to Earth,
and practice rescue and the safe return of astronauts to their outpost from
sorties.

Moon dust has the potential to serve as an on-site resource for
building materials, water and oxygen. However, because of its structure,
the dust can damage space suits, rovers and other equipment. The particles
have sharp, jagged edges and contain microscopic shards of glass. Tool or
instrument designs that can withstand the sharp-edged particles could help
future astronauts and might earn students an internship at a NASA facility.

The contest is open to full-time students enrolled in accredited
post-secondary institution such as universities, colleges, trade schools,
community colleges and professional schools in the United States or its
territories. Individuals or teams may apply, and interdisciplinary teams
from across departments and institutions are encouraged.

NASA plans to invite contest winners to the next set of lunar
technology mission tests planned for the summer or fall of 2009. Paid
internships also are planned as student awards. The contest continues
NASA’s tradition of investing in the nation’s education programs and ties
into the agency’s goal of strengthening NASA and America’s future
workforce.

To participate in the contest, students must submit a notice of intent
to NASA by Dec. 15, 2008, with final papers due May 15, 2009. Specific
details about how participation in the NASA University Design Contest in
Exploration Systems, including submission requirements, can be found on the
Web at:

http://moontasks.larc.nasa.gov

The contest is sponsored by NASA’s Exploration Systems Mission
Directorate. For more information about the directorate, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration

SOURCE NASA

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