NASA Regolith Excavation Challenge
Details are only posted here to foster debate on how to meet the challenge.
This contest took place on May 12th, 2007
No winners
The Challenge
| From NASA - Centennial Challenges Descriptions and Resources
The Regolith Excavation Challenge promotes the development of new technologies to excavate lunar regolith. Excavation is a necessary first step towards lunar resource utilization, and the unique physical properties of lunar regolith make excavation a difficult technical challenge. Advances in lunar regolith extraction have the potential to contribute significantly to the nation's space exploration operations. From California Space Authority Teams competing in the 2007 Regolith Excavation Centennial Challenge will build autonomously operating systems to excavate lunar regolith and deliver it to a collector. This Challenge will be conducted in a "head-to-head" competition format. Teams will be challenged to excavate and deliver as much regolith as possible in 30 minutes.
The rule book: http://www.californiaspaceauthority.org/regolith/images/Regolith-Rule-Book-1_01.pdf |
Observations
The rules clearly state:
Power Source - The Power Source, provided by the Allied Partner during the Competition Attempt, will be a DC electrical source of 30 watts.
Allied Partner (in this case) = California Space Authority
Presumably this is the "continuous" DC input power to your robot.
The weight of the power supply does not count towards robot weight.
Questions
Ideas for meeting the challenge
Entrants (2007)
Technology Ranch, Pismo Beach
Methods
Performance
143 pounds in 30 minutes.
entrant name
Methods
Performance
Broke down while digging.
entrant name
Methods
Performance
Broke down while digging.
entrant name
Methods
Performance
Broke down while digging.
