UE Moonbuggy Team Places Second in National Competition
April 11, 2006
The UE Moonbuggy Team took second place at their competition on April 8 -- the 13th Annual Great Moonbuggy Race, sponsored by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Battling storms, large hail and tornadoes on the trip down to Alabama on April 7, UE's team finished ahead of 14 other college teams from across the country and Puerto Rico in the April 8 competition. Pittsburgh State took first place and the University of Tennessee won third. This was the highest place finish the UE team has ever had since it began competing in this competition – 13 years ago.
In this competition, mechanical engineering students have built a vehicle that can traverse varying conditions and surfaces. Winning teams are able to traverse the simulated "lunar" surface at the Space Flight Center in record time. By participating in this competition the challengers learn important engineering and problem solving concepts and what it was like for NASA engineers to build the original lunar rover used on the moon in the 1970s. The original rovers were designed at the Marshall Center.
Led by junior Lance Hawkins of Evansville, students involved in this project included: Christopher Albaugh of Flora, Indiana, Shawn Hawkins of Evansville, Tyler Shaw of Washington, Indiana, James McDaniel of Fulton, Missouri, Emily Herr of Chandler, Indiana, Cheryl Waclaw of Covington, Indiana, Natalie Gilbert of Kettering, Ohio, and Julie Hotz of Columbus, Ohio.
Pictured Above Right: Inspecting the Moonbuggy Before Competition; Below: 2006 Moonbuggy Team at Competition.
