The UE moonbuggy team has a superiorly designed moonbuggy for the 2007 NASA Great Moonbuggy Race. The design mainly includes a new lighter frame, softer suspension, narrow pedal assemblies, and newly designed uprights to encompass a tighter turning radius. The buggy is a four-wheel drive, back to back, two-rider buggy. Each rider pedals like they would on a bicycle to power the buggy through the lunar course. The race will be navigated using a simple butterfly steering mechanism that will incorporate a new design for the vertical steering shaft and a single disk brake system. The buggy will fold into the required 4’x4’ cube using a hinge in the center of the frame allowing for a quick and easy setup.
The annual moonbuggy competition sponsored by NASA is going to be held at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. This yearly event is open to both high school and college students. The objective of the moonbuggy competition is to design a vehicle that is capable of navigating terrain similar to what is actually on the moon. To replicate the moon’s surface, the half-mile long track includes rocks, inclines, and craters. The moonbuggy must also meet design requirements that are set by NASA. Two students, one male and one female, must provide the only source of power for the moonbuggy. The objective is to complete the entire course in the shortest amount of time as possible.
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UE Team Wins 2008 NASA Competition
The 2008 moonbuggy team, consisting of 10 engineering students from the University of Evansville, topped the competition at NASA's Moon Buggy competition in Huntsville, Alabama, marking the first time a UE team has won the competition.
With a time of four minutes, 17 seconds, the UE team beat their nearest competitor by more than 30 seconds.
"This is incredible," said senior Jesse Kahle, project manager for the Moon Buggy. "We're just thrilled that NASA gave us the opportunity to work on this project - a simulation of a real-life project NASA handled in the 1970s. It's been a tremendous learning experience, and to win the competition is just a wonderful bonus."