Lunabotics Team Builds Lunar Robot for Collegiate Space Mining Competition
Northeastern’s Lunabotics team will present its lunar robot this month at the Iowa State Collegiate Space Mining Competition. The team launched last fall to expand the reach of the university’s chapter of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS).
This article originally appeared on Northeastern Global News. It was published by Cesareo Contreras. Main photo: Students work on the Lunabotics team robot in the SEDS lab. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University
Northeastern’s Lunabotics team builds a robot to tackle the moon’s surface and compete against other universities
Dust on the moon is finer than sand but can be as sharp as glass, says Northeastern University Lunabotics Project Lead Matthew Geisel.
That type of terrain is not ideal for long-term settlements for humans, a goal NASA hopes to make a reality through its Artemis campaign.
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Matt Geisel, an electrical and computer engineering student, is the project lead for the Lunabotics team. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University
“If you’ve ever seen a rocket launch with all the dust going everywhere, the same thing happens on the moon, except there is no air and there’s less gravity. You can imagine very small shards of glass being scattered. If you have a person or moonbase in front of those tiny shards of glass, they are not going to have a fun time,” says Geisal, a third-year electrical engineering student.
One of the best ways to protect against debris is to build mounds—called berms—composed of lunar dust alongside these settlements, Geisal explains. Lunar robots, which can withstand the moon’s conditions, will be key to their construction.
Northeastern’s Lunabotics team will show off its lunar robot this month as it competes in the Iowa State Collegiate Space Mining Competition. It’s the club’s first competition since launching in September. The competition will take place from May 21 to May 24.
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Lunabotics will compete later this month for the first time. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University
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