Lunar Rover Design Teams

The Rocket City Space Pioneer Lunar Rover Design teams are building and testing the next generation of robotic lunar rovers to win the Google Lunar X PRIZE and conquer new challenges beyond the X PRIZE competition. University and high school students are working side-by-side with aerospace engineers to put their mark on engineering the space exploration vehicles of the future.

Team 1: Andrews Space and University of Washington (UW)

A full service space engineering company and a team of graduate students working on a full system prototype.  Andrews Space is the rover's technical lead.

Team 2: Computer Engineering – University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAHuntsville)
A senior design group focused on developing the rover's software.

Team 3: Center for System Studies – University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAHuntsville)
Senior design groups and graduate students developing alternative designs and full system prototypes.

Team 4: Computer Electronics Technology – Huntsville Center for Technology (HCT)
Technically minded high school students applying their prior experience with NASA projects and rapid prototyping to create technology demonstration prototype rovers and a simulated lunar surface to test rover configurations and controls.

The universities and Andrews Space are focusing on the theory, engineering, and academic challenges of designing a lunar rover. HCT is focusing on the practicality of the entire rover mission. Once HCT has completed its mock-ups of the lunar landscape (or “moonscape”), our lander, and rover, we will be able to do a complete dry run of the lunar mission. We will be able to physically simulate the entire mission here in Huntsville inside of HCT. This will let us discover and find ways to correct any unpredictable problems with our designs or mission procedures. We expect to publish a fake moon landing toward the end of this year.

Working with all these different robotics groups is a blast. You  never know what crazy new idea they’ll come up with next.

 

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