A MOOSE Might Mine the Moon

The University of NH LunaCats took third place in NASA’s Lunabotics Mining Competition with its Magically Optimized Outer Space Excavator, nicknamed MOOSE. 

The LunaCats, a group of eight UNH mechanical engineering students, were among groups from 50 schools worldwide charged with building a robot to mine and deposit at least 10 kilograms of lunar simulant within 10 minutes. The MOOSE mined 36.6 kilograms in the first round and 47.6 kilograms in the second. It came in third behind Iowa State University and University of North Dakota. The MOOSE moon rover looks like a modified snowplow and has just four moving parts to minimize potential problems. It is powered by a netbook attached to it.

Teams were judged on a number of factors such as dust tolerance, communications, vehicle mass, energy/power required, and full autonomy. While robots could weigh up to 80 kilograms, the MOOSE weighed only 52 kilograms and was made of aluminum tubing. The remote-controlled excavators were mining for a substance that simulated regolith, which is found on Earth’s moon and other planetary bodies. The competition took place in May at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA may use the student ideas to help design and build an actual lunar excavation device. Team Captain Caleigh MacPherson, a master’s student in mechanical engineering, raised the $20,000 to fund the robot and the travel. The top LunaCats outside sponsor was Avid Corporation in Portsmouth. For more information, visit nasa.gov/lunabotics and unh.edu/lunacats.