UA Students will Compete in NASA Moonbuggy Race

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – A group of University of Alabama mechanical engineering students will participate in NASA’s ninth annual “Great Moonbuggy Race” at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville on Saturday, April 13.

Sixty-eight teams, representing high schools and colleges across the country, will race over a lunar-like terrain in human-powered vehicles, which they have designed and built. Students from UA’s mechanical engineering “Design 1” class, the first of a two-course, senior-level design series, will represent the UA at the race.

Dr. Steve Shepard, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and moonbuggy team faculty advisor, recently coordinated a preliminary race on campus to determine the two teams from the class that would advance to Huntsville.

Chosen to represent UA were: Team One-Scot Donald of Coker, Todd Hollingsworth of Fayette, Alan McRee of Hoover, Daphne Messer of Wetumpka, Destin Sandlin of Decatur and Marcus Taylor of Fayette; and Team Two-Brian Chalfont of Tuscaloosa, Sam Davis of Tuscaloosa, Carsten Haustein of Tuscaloosa, T. Jay Moore of Parrish and Stormy Speer of Northport.

Each team was responsible for designing a vehicle that occupies a space no more than 4 feet by 4 feet by 4 feet before it’s assembly, to match the space available for transport in a rocket. Prior to the race, the vehicle must be carried 20 feet by the two drivers and then assembled for use. Two team members-one male and one female-then power and drive their vehicle over the half-mile obstacle course of simulated moonscape terrain. Winners will be determined by the fastest vehicle-assembly time and the fastest time for traveling through the course.

Results and photos will be posted on the NASA Marshall Center Web site at www.msfc.nasa.gov/news shortly after the competition concludes, in the early evening of April 13.