\n<\/p>\n
By Savannah Bullard<\/em><\/p>\n After two days of live competitions, two teams from southern California are heading home with a combined $1.5 million from NASA\u2019s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge.\u00a0<\/p>\n Since 2020, competitors from around the world have competed in this challenge with the common goal of inventing robots that can excavate and transport the icy regolith on the Moon. The lunar South Pole is the targeted landing site for crewed Artemis missions, so utilizing all resources in that area, including the ice within the dusty regolith inside the permanently shadowed regions, is vital for the success of a sustained human lunar presence.<\/p>\n On Earth, the mission architectures developed in this challenge aim to help guide machine design and operation concepts for future mining and excavation operations and equipment for decades.<\/p>\n \u201cBreak the Ice represents a significant milestone in our journey toward sustainable lunar exploration and a future human presence on the Moon,\u201d said Joseph Pelfrey, center director of NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center. \u201cThis competition has pushed the boundaries of what is possible by challenging the brightest minds to devise groundbreaking solutions for excavating lunar ice, a crucial resource for future missions. Together, we are forging a future where humanity ventures further into the cosmos than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n The final round of the Break the Ice competition featured six finalist teams who succeeded in an earlier phase of the challenge. The competition took place at the Alabama A&M Agribition Center in Huntsville on June 11 and 12, where each team put their diverse solutions to the test in a series of trials, using terrestrial resources like gravity-offloading cranes, concrete slabs, and a rocky track with tricky obstacles to mimic the environment on the Moon.<\/p>\n The husband-and-wife duo of Terra Engineering took home the top prize for their \u201cFracture\u201d rover. Team lead Todd Mendenhall competed in NASA\u2019s 2007 Regolith Excavation Challenge, facilitated through NASA\u2019s Centennial Challenges, which led him and Valerie Mendenhall to continue the pursuit of solutions for autonomous lunar excavation.<\/p>\n A small space hardware business, Starpath Robotics, earned the second-place prize for its four-wheeled rover that can mine, collect, and haul material. The team, led by Saurav Shroff and lead engineer Mihir Gondhalekar, developed a robotic mining tool that features a drum barrel scraping mechanism for breaking into the tough lunar surface. This allows the robot to mine material quickly and robustly without sacrificing energy.<\/p>\n \u201cThis challenge has been pivotal in advancing the technologies we need to achieve a sustained human presence on the Moon,\u201d said Kim Krome, the Acting Program Manager for NASA\u2019s Centennial Challenges. \u201cTerra Engineering\u2019s rover, especially, bridged several of the technology gaps that we identified \u2013 for instance, being robust and resilient enough to traverse rocky landscapes and survive the harsh conditions of the lunar South Pole.\u201d<\/p>\n Beyond the $1.5 million in prize funds, three teams will be given the chance to use Marshall Space Flight Center\u2019s thermal vacuum (TVAC) chambers to continue testing and developing their robots. These chambers use thermal vacuum technologies to create a simulated lunar environment, allowing scientists and researchers to build, test, and approve hardware for flight-ready use.<\/p>\n The following teams performed exceptionally well in the excavation portion of the final competition, earning these invitations to the TVAC facilities:<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re looking forward to hosting three of our finalists at our thermal vacuum chamber, where they will get full access to continue testing and developing their technologies in our state-of-the-art facilities,\u201d said Break the Ice Challenge Manager Naveen Vetcha, who supports NASA\u2019s Centennial Challenges through Jacobs Space Exploration Group. \u201cHopefully, these tests will allow the teams to take their solutions to the next level and open the door for opportunities for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n NASA\u2019s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge is a NASA Centennial Challenge led by the agency\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center, with support from NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center. Centennial Challenges are part of the Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program under NASA\u2019s Space Technology Mission Directorate. Ensemble Consultancy supports challenge competitors. Alabama A&M University, in coordination with NASA, supports the final competitions and winner event for the challenge.<\/p>\n Bullard, a Manufacturing Technical Solutions Inc. employee, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.<\/em><\/p>\n \n\n