Sped Past 23 Teams To Take College Division Bragging
Rights
On Sunday, NASA told ANN the student innovators from the
University of Evansville in Evansville, IN sped past 23 teams from
around the globe to win the college division of NASA's 15th annual
Great Moonbuggy Race today at the US Space & Rocket Center in
Huntsville, AL.
The Evansville team posted the day's fastest race time,
completing the harrowing course -- which simulates surface
conditions found on the moon -- in just four minutes and 25
seconds.
Finishing in the top three along with Evansville were
second-place winners from Murray State University in Murray, KY and
third-place racers representing Canada's Carleton University in
Ottawa, Ontario.
NASA's Great Moonbuggy Race is inspired by the original lunar
rover designed by engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center
in Huntsville. A hardy, lightweight exploration vehicle, the first
rover trundled across the moon's surface during the Apollo 15
mission in 1971, and continued to chart new lunar territory during
two subsequent Apollo lunar missions.
Student racers faced challenges similar to those overcome by
Apollo-era rover engineers. Last October, the student teams began
designing their own buggies, capable of withstanding the challenges
of the course: craters, gullies and ridges made of plywood and
tires and covered with a realistic layer of gravel and sand.
The Marshall Center presented the first-place team with a trophy
depicting NASA's original lunar rover, and gave plaques and
certificates to the two runners-up. The first-place team also
received $5,700 in cash from Northrop Grumman Corp. Individuals on
all three winning teams received commemorative medals and other
prizes.
As ANN reported Sunday, a
team of students from Erie High School in Erie, KS took first
place in the high school divison of the contest.
"Once again, we're amazed and inspired by the ingenuity and
energy of our participating teams," said Tammy Rowan, manager of
the Marshall Center's Academic Affairs Office, which organizes the
moonbuggy race each year. "This race is a great example of how
NASA's educational initiatives can inspire and motivate new
generations to carry on the nation's journey of discovery, to the
moon and onward into the solar system."
"We look forward to 2009 and the next edition of NASA's Great
Moonbuggy Race," Rowan added. "We expect many of these teams back
-- bringing them another step toward becoming the professional
scientists, mathematicians, engineers and technologists of
tomorrow."