NASA ARC Internal Memo: 2009 Regolith Excavation Challenge at Ames, Oct. 17 – 18, 2009

From: Centerwide Announcement
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:09:04 -0500
To: Recipient List Supressed
Subject: 2009 Regolith Excavation Challenge at Ames, Oct. 17 – 18, 2009

TO: Resident Staff

FROM: Greg Schmidt, Deputy Director, NASA Lunar Science Institute

Subject: 2009 Regolith Excavation Challenge at Ames, Oct. 17 – 18, 2009

You are invited to attend the 2009 Regolith Excavation Challenge, a nation-wide competition under NASA’s Centennial Challenges prize program to promote development of new technologies by a “citizen inventor.” This year, 23 teams will compete for a $750,000 prize purse, provided by Centennial Challenges.

Admission is free and open to the public.

For this challenge, 23 teams from across the United States have designed and built robots to excavate simulated lunar soil, or “regolith.” Teams will test their robots in a box approximately 13 feet long and wide and one-and-a-half feet deep containing eight tons of simulated lunar regolith. In order to qualify for a prize, a robot must dig up and then dump at least 330 pounds of regolith into a container in 30 minutes. The teams with the robots that move the most regolith will claim the three cash prizes.

The event also will feature exhibits and speakers focused on highlighting hands-on education projects, robotics and space exploration. During the Oct. 17 event, the Livermore Unit of the National Association of Rocketry will be launching rockets as high as 1,000 feet from Moffett Federal Airfield.

Teams will compete in Building 503 in NASA Research Park, Moffett Field, Calif., on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009 and Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009.

For a complete schedule of events, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/events/2009/10.17.09.html

The Regolith Excavation Challenge is organized by the California Space Education and Workforce Institute and co-hosted by the California Space Authority in collaboration with the NASA Lunar Science Institute.

To receive updates about the event follow Twitter account @regolith_chal or visit: http://www.twitter.com/regolith_chal

To watch videos and for more information about the Regolith Excavation Challenge, visit:http://www.regolith.csewi.org

For more information about the California Space Authority, visit: http://www.californiaspaceauthority.org

For more information about the Livermore Unit of the National Association of Rocketry, visit: http://lunar.org/

To volunteer for this event and/or if you would like to respond to this memo electronically, you may do so by contacting Delia Santiago by clicking the following: mailto:delia.l.santiago@nasa.gov