Did you sign up? Hope so, for the deadline is now closed for team registration at the California Space Education and Workforce Institute (CSEWI), with a record number of 25 team entrants having signed for the upcoming 2008 Regolith Excavation Challenge involving a NASA winning purse of $750,000. The competition requires teams to build a roving lunar excavator that can autonomously “navigate, excavate, and transfer 150 kg (330 pounds) of simulated lunar regolith” into a collector bin within 30 minutes. Excavation is a necessary first step towards lunar resource utilization. The unique physical properties of lunar regolith make excavation a difficult technical challenge. Advances in lunar regolith excavation have the potential to contribute significantly to the nation’s space exploration operations.
This is part of NASA’s Centennial Challenges to drive progress in aerospace technology of NASA’s missions through non-traditional sources by opening it up to public competition. The event is scheduled for Saturday, August 2 at California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo. The rules for this year are much more demanding than the 2007 competition, with triple the prize dollars to match. Excavators have to autonomously navigate, avoid obstacles, and excavate more than double their mass of regolith in order to win. In addition, the teams are required to use less power than an XBOX 360 or a PlayStation 3 video game console. Each team has just one chance at the prize All four teams who participated last year are returning. The majority of the teams are from the private sector, while four are affiliated with universities. Several of the teams have backgrounds that are not traditionally associated with the aerospace industry, such as the toy industry and IT, while several do have an aerospace background.
Selected to serve as an Allied Organization by the NASA Centennial Challenges Program, the California Space Education and Workforce Institute (CSEWI) administers the Regolith Excavation Challenge. The Regolith Excavation Challenge is Co-Hosted by the California Space Authority (CSA) and the California Polytechnic State Universtiy, San Luis Obispo College of Engineering. The event is sponsored by Diani Building Corporation, Empirical Systems Aerospace, and the California Business Transportation and Housing Agency. The event promotes the development of new technologies to excavate lunar regolith. Prize funding is provided by the NASA Centennial Challenges Program—Pasadena, California
