The Great Moonbuggy Race Summary

Wednesday, 07 June 2006

Moonbuggy The Great Moonbuggy Race The 13th annual Great Moonbuggy Race organized by NASA with support from Northrop Grumman, was held April 7th and 8th at the US Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. For the 4th consecutive year, a team of students from the Department of Mechanical Engineering entered this competition. The 'Moonbuggy' is a human powered vehicle which must be driven by one male and one female student. The unassembled vehicle must fit into a volume of 4' x 4' x 4'. The two students have to carry the 'Moonbuggy' 20 feet to the starting line, and then are timed for assembling the unit. The vehicle then undergoes a safety inspection. After passing the review, the team makes 2 runs over a 0.7 mile obstacle course. Prizes are awarded on the basis of the best time to assemble and complete a run, adding in any penalty time incurred for rules infraction. The course makes its way around rockets, including a Saturn moon rocket, and other space related vehicles. The course is also strewn with lunar-like obstacles, such as a lunar crater in which a full-size replica of the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) sits. Initially 22 teams signed on for the competition. Six of these teams did not show. Of those remaining, the PUC team finished in 7th place, the best showing that we have attained to date. The order of the top finishers, with times in minutes, was: Pittsburg State University II (3:49), University of Evansville (5:56), University of Puerto Rico Humacao I (8:44) tie with University of Tennessee Knoxville II (8:44), Christian Brothers University (9:57), Pittsburg State University I (10:08), and Purdue University Calumet (10:59). Other competitors came from Alabama A&M University, Cameron University, Middle Tennessee State University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Southern Illinois University, Tennessee Technological University, and Youngstown State University. This year's team consisted of Ryan Buckley (driver 1), Cara Christman (driver 2), Roque Diaz, and Michael Staal. The faculty advisor was Prof. H. Abramowitz. Other PUC support in Huntsville was provided by B. Parsons from ME and R. Rickerson from MET. The students are looking forward to competing next year and improving on this year's performance.

Last Updated ( Friday, 14 July 2006 )

 

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