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NASA Announces Robotic Mining Competition

The headshot image of Jason Costa

Jason Costa

Sep 01, 2022
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A robotic miner from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, prepares to dig in the mining arena during NASA’s LUNABOTICS competition on May 27, 2022, at the Center for Space Education near the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida.
A robotic miner from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, prepares to dig in the mining arena during NASA’s LUNABOTICS competition on May 27, 2022, at the Center for Space Education near the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. More than 35 college and university teams from around the U.S. have designed and built remote-controlled robots for the mining competition. Teams use their autonomous or remote-controlled robots to maneuver and dig in a supersized sandbox filled with lunar simulant and rocks. The objective of the challenge is to see which team’s robot can collect and deposit the most rocky regolith within a specified amount of time. Credits: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement invites collegiate teams to participate in the 2023 LUNABOTICS robotic mining competition. The challenge will provide NASA valuable information for the design of robots and innovative construction techniques for lunar and Martian environments as the agency prepares to return to the Moon through its Artemis missions.  

LUNABOTICS is an Artemis Student Challenge designed to educate college students in the NASA Systems Engineering process. Participating teams will use this process to design and construct a prototype robot that demonstrates technologies needed for long-term human presence on the Moon and other off-world locations. The robots will have to master the complexities of the abrasive characteristics of regolith simulants, the resources required to excavate and construct structures in a lunar environment, take into account weight and size limitations, and have the ability to operate by remote control or through autonomous operations.

Encouraging innovation in student designs increases the potential of identifying clever solutions to the many challenges inherent in future Artemis missions. LUNABOTICS allows NASA to gather and evaluate design and operational data for future robotic excavators and builders. The agency assesses the student designs and data the same way it does for its own prototypes.

This year’s competition will be virtual. Students will complete multiple deliverables such as a project management plan, systems engineering paper, presentation, and product demonstration. Registration begins Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022, and closes at 11:59 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022.

Since 2010, NASA’s LUNABOTICS competition has provided college students from around the country an opportunity to learn and implement the NASA Systems Engineering process by designing and building robotic Lunar excavators capable of mining regolith and icy regolith simulants.

To learn more about LUNABOTICS, visit:

www.nasa.gov/offices/education/centers/kennedy/technology/nasarmc.html

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Stephanie Plucinsky
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-431-5073
stephanie.n.plucinsky@nasa.gov
Leah Martin
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-867-9775
leah.s.martin@nasa.gov