Ohio State's Mars Rover Team Competing in NASA's Great Moonbuggy Race

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photo of Ohio State moon buggy 2019
2019 Ohio State Mars Rover Moon Buggy designed and built by Welding Engineering students.

Ohio State's Mars Rover team rolled into the 25th Year of the NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama this week.

The race challenges competitors to maneuver their two-person moonbuggies through a half-mile, simulated lunar terrain course studded with craters, rocks, lava ridges and lunar-like soil. The course design pays homage to the surface properties of Mars, which hosts remnants of asteroids. 

Building the moonbuggy presented them with many of the same engineering challenges that developers of the Apollo-era lunar rovers faced at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in the late 1960s. 

Competition requirements for each rover include:

  • two students (one female, one male)
  • vehicles cannot exceed 5' x 5' x 5' in volume
  • wheels need to be homemade

Professor David Phillips is the Faculty Advisor.

NASA is streaming the competition. Find it here. 
 
Check back here next week for race results.
Category: Students