NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge

The NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge, prior to 2014 referred to as the Great Moonbuggy Race, is an annual competition for high school and college students to design, build, and race human-powered, collapsible vehicles over simulated lunar/Martian terrain. NASA sponsors the competition, first held in 1994, and, since 1996, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center hosts.^[1][2]

Students traverse a simulated crater in a moonbuggy they designed and built themselves.

Students created vehicles dubbed "moonbuggies" to face challenges similar to those engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center addressed in preparation for Apollo 15. On that mission, on July 31, 1971, the first Lunar Roving Vehicle extended the range of astronauts on the Moon to allow for further exploration than was otherwise possible. Two other rovers were sent to the Moon on subsequent missions.^[1]

With the 2014 changes in the contest, the motivation changed to mimicking design challenges faced by engineers designing rovers for future exploration missions to a variety of celestial bodies.^[2]

The first two events were held at the original track used for testing lunar rover candidates. Here, the team from Puerto Rico navigates boulders.

The first race, in 1994, was held on July 16, the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch. It featured six college teams who competed on the same course as had been used to test the lunar rovers previously. The University of New Hampshire finished first, in 18 minutes 55 seconds for the 1.4-mile (2.3 km) course with twelve obstacles. The prize was a trip for six team members to see a Space Shuttle launch. Other teams from the University of Puerto Rico at Humacao, Texas A & M University, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Georgia Institute of Technology and Indiana University/Purdue University at Indianapolis participated.^[3]

Subsequent races have been held in April. In 1996, the competition was moved to a .75-mile (1.21 km) course at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center; high school teams also began competing.

Rules

The rules change year by year, but are largely summarized thus:^[4][5]

• A team of at most six people designs, builds, and races the same vehicle.^[5]
• Two of the six must ride and propel the vehicle through the course.^[6]
• Riders must be one male and one female.^[6]
• The moonbuggy (pre-2014) must fit into a 4-foot (1.2 m) cube and be no more than 4 ft wide.^[7] Beginning in 2014, the rover constraint was a 5-foot (1.5 m) cube.
• The vehicle needs to carry a simulated high-gain antenna, camera, and other instrumentation which must consume at least 1 cubic foot (28 L).^[5][7]
• Various other dimensional and safety criteria apply.
• Time penalties are assessed for touching the ground, avoiding obstacles, and other rule violations.^[5][6]
• Since 2016, the teams have to design and fabricate their own non-pneumatic tires/wheels. Purchasing a commercially available product will lead to disqualification.

Course

Since 1996, the course winds through the rocket park at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. This map shows the 2012 course.

The course is designed to test rovers for stability over varying simulated lunar or extraterrestrial terrain—bumpy, sloped, and rocky—including some tight turns.^[7] The first course was the actual track used by Mobility Test Articles, auditioning versions of Lunar Roving Vehicles that were used on the Moon. For the third race the course was moved a few miles, to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. There, the track has taken varying paths through the rocket park and around the permanent lunar crater feature at the museum. Each year, the obstacles change slightly.^[1]

An obstacle for the 2013 contest awaits final preparations. Tires form small craters and gravel substitutes for Moon surface material.

The obstacles are constructed of discarded tires, plywood, some 20 tons of gravel and five tons of sand, all to simulate lunar craters, basins, and rilles.^[7] The contest is challenging: in 2009, 29 of 68 teams competing did not complete the race.^[8] Sometimes the placement of the obstacle is an issue, with some teams hitting obstacles too fast after a downhill stint.^[9]

Before students tackle the race course, their vehicles must pass inspection. At the team's start time, the two riding students must carry the buggy, collapsed to fit in a 5-foot (1.5 m) cube (pre-2014 a 4-foot (1.2 m) cube), for 20 feet (6.1 m), then expand the rover and ride it across the obstacles and along the track, avoiding cones marking the edges of the course, bales of hay, and other obstructions, while successfully navigating the modest hills of the terrain and obstacles. After the race, another inspection assesses the condition of the vehicle, with time penalties if parts are missing.^[4]

Contestants

Contestants are high school and university students largely from the United States, including Puerto Rico. Teams have also come from Canada, Mexico, India, Germany, and Romania to participate.^[7][10]

Awards

Numerous awards are offered each year, some with significant prizes. First place college winners have received trips to Shuttle launches and cash prizes, while others have received weekends at Space Camp. In 2009, there were 11 categories for special recognition with 19 recipients thereof. Consistent from the beginning have been awards for fastest time and for best design. Other awards acknowledge simplicity of design, safety, tenacity, team spirit, improvement over previous years' entries, and exceptional new entries.^[11]

Winners

This list gives winners for time(^t) and design(^d) awards which have been consistently offered since the start. Awards were often also given for other categories but they are not included here in the interest of readability.

Students from Graff Career Center, Springfield, Missouri. navigate the 360° turn around the permanent crater feature at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in 1999.

The Cornell #2 team competes in the 2002 race.

North Dakota State University students enter an obstacle on the course in 2003.

Year	High School	College	Remarks
1994	none	University of New Hampshiret University of Puerto Rico at Humacaod	Original test track, 1.4 miles, rain[3]
1995	none	Georgia Institute of Technologyt University of Alabama in Huntsvilled	Original test track[12]
1996	Bob Jones High Schooltd	University of Alabama in Huntsvillet Arizona State Universityd	First at USSRC, 3⁄4-mile (1.2 km) track[13]
1997	Monterey High School (Louisiana)td	University of California at Santa Barbaratd	1⁄2-mile (0.80 km) track[14][15]
1998	Monterey High Schoolt Autauga County Vocational Centerd	College of New Jerseyt Arizona State Universityd	Rain[16][17]
1999	Graff Career Centertd	Pittsburg State University team 4t College of New Jerseyd	[18]
2000	Pittsburg High School, Kansast Orleans Parish Area Schoolsd	College of New Jerseyt South Dakota State Universityd	First two-day contest[19][20]
2001	Graff Career Centert Lafayette County High School (Missouri) team 1d	Pittsburg State University team 2t University of New Hampshired	[21]
2002	Lafayette County High School in Higginsville, Mo.t New Orleans Area Schools team 2d	Cornell Universityt College of New Jerseyd	[22]
2003	Lafayette County (Mo.) C-1 High School Team No. 2t	North Dakota State Universityt	[23]
2004	New Orleans Area High Schools	North Dakota State Universityt	[24]
2005	Madison County Career Academy team 1t	Utah State Universityt	[25][26]
2006	Huntsville Center for Technologyt	Pittsburg State Universityt	[27]
2007	Huntsville Center for Technologyt	Rochester Institute of Technologyt	[28]
2008	Erie High School (Kansas) Team 2t Erie High School Team 1d	University of Evansvillet Pittsburg State Universityd	[29][30][31]
2009	tie Erie High School (Kansas)t tie Huntsville Center for Technology Team 2t Tudor Vianu National High School of Computer Scienced	Rochester Institute of Technologyt Tennessee Technological Universityd	0.7 miles (1.1 km) course[8][10][11][32][33]
2010	International Space Education Institute of Leipzigt Teodoro Aguilar Mora Vocational High School Team 2d	The University of Puerto Rico at Humacaot University of Alabama in Huntsvilled	[9][34]
2011	Teodoro Aguilar Mora Vocational High School Team 2t	University of Puerto Rico in Humacaot	UPRH is the only contestant to enter in every race thus far.[35]
2012	Petra Mercado High Schoolt Colegio Nuestra Señora del Perpetuo Socorro-Humacaod	University of Alabama in Huntsvillet International Space Education Institute Team Russia in Moscowd	[36]
2013	Teodoro Aguilar Mora Vocational High Schoolt Academy of Arts, Careers and Technologyd	University of Puerto Rico at Humacaot Southern Illinois Universityd	There was some concern that the race might be called off due to sequestration, but NASA Associate Administrator for Education, Leland D. Melvin specifically exempted the event.[37][38][39]
2014	Academy of Arts, Careers and Technologytd	University of Puerto Rico at Humacao Team 2t Middle Tennessee State University – Team 2d	First "Human Exploration Rover Challenge," harder course, non-pneumatic wheels[40][41]
2015	University Gardens High School of San Juan, Puerto Ricot Parish Episcopal School of Dallas, Texasd	International Space Education Institute Team Russia of Moscowt Auburn University of Auburn, Alabamad	[42]
2016	Purdue University Calumet – Team 1t Purdue University Calumet – Team 2d	Rafaelina E. Lebron Flores of Patillas, Puerto Ricot Colegio Nuestra Senora del Perpetuo Socorro of Humacaod	This was the first year for teams to design their own wheels. The 2016 contest also added four sample collections of liquid, pebbles, large rocks, and soil.[43]
2018	Buckhorn High Schoolf	University of Alabama in Huntsville - Team 1	This was the first year the competition included a points system. Points were awarded for the weight of the buggies as well as obstacles and missions completed around the course. Teams were given 6 minutes to complete tasks, and the 7th minute to reach the finish line.[44]
2021	Parish Episcopal School Team 1	Universidad Nacional de Colombia	On-Site activities cancelled due to COVID-19.[45] Overall winners decided by design, documentation, and presentation categories.[46]

^tFirst place for time
^dBest design award
^fFeatherweight award