Keeping The Wheels Turning: Registration Open For 20th Annual NASA Great Moonbuggy Race

Nov. 07, 2012

Ann Marie Trotta
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1601
ann.marie.trotta@nasa.gov

Angela Storey
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
angela.d.storey@nasa.gov


RELEASE: 12-389

KEEPING THE WHEELS TURNING: REGISTRATION OPEN FOR 20TH ANNUAL NASA GREAT MOONBUGGY RACE



HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- Registration is now open for the 20th annual NASA
Great Moonbuggy Race, which challenges high school, college and
university students around the world to build and race fast,
lightweight "moonbuggies" of their own design.

The students' work will culminate in two days of competitive racing
April 26-27, 2013, at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville,
Ala. NASA created the event two decades ago to complement classroom
learning, provide young thinkers and builders with real-world
engineering experience and inspire them to consider careers in
science, technology, engineering and mathematics -- the STEM fields.

"It's our goal to keep the wheels turning," said Tammy Rowan, manager
of the Academic Affairs Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center
in Huntsville, which organizes the race each year. "The ingenuity and
enthusiasm we see among racers begins in the classroom. That first
spark of interest -- whether it's in basic chemistry or astronomy or
the history of spaceflight -- starts the wheels turning. The Great
Moonbuggy Race helps sustain that momentum, turning interest into
passion, and dreams into a lifelong pursuit of new answers and new
horizons."

International registration for the 2013 race closes Jan. 7.
Registration for U.S. teams closes Feb. 4. Participating high
schools, colleges and universities each may register up to two teams
and two vehicles. For complete rules and to register, visit:

http://moonbuggy.msfc.nasa.gov

When Marshall created the race as a regional college challenge during
the 1993-1994 school year, only eight teams participated. The high
school division was added in 1996, and registration has swelled ever
since.

Racers compete to post the fastest vehicle assembly and race times in
their divisions, while incurring the fewest penalties. Prizes are
awarded to the three teams in each division that finish with the
lowest final times. NASA and industry sponsors present additional
awards for engineering ingenuity, team spirit, best debut by a rookie
team and more.

The course, built each spring on the outdoor grounds of the Space and
Rocket Center, comprises a winding half-mile of gravel embankments,
sand pits and obstacles that mimic the harsh surface of the moon. The
race's creators drew inspiration from conditions faced by the
Apollo-era Lunar Roving Vehicles. Three rovers built at Marshall in
the late 1960s were used on the moon during the Apollo 15, Apollo 16
and Apollo 17 missions in 1971 and 1972.

Today, the students' moonbuggies address many of the same design
challenges NASA and industry engineers overcame to deliver those
historic rovers. The vehicles dramatically expanded astronauts' reach
across the lunar surface and enabled them to conduct much more
scientific research during their brief stays on the moon.

In the most recent Great Moonbuggy Race, held in April 2012, more than
70 teams tackled the course. Petra Mercado High School in Humacao,
Puerto Rico was first place in the high school division. The
University of Alabama in Huntsville won first place in the college
division. Petra Mercado, in only its second year in the competition,
earned a completion time of 3 minutes and 20 seconds. The winning
University of Alabama in Huntsville team finished in 4 minutes and 3
seconds.

To date, more than 5,000 students from around the world have
participated in the races. Past winning teams have hailed from
Alabama, Arizona, California, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North
Dakota, Ohio, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah and Wyoming
-- and from Canada and Germany. International racers have come from
as far away as India, Italy, Romania, Russia and the United Arab
Emirates.

Racers from Erie High School in Erie, Kan., have held the record for
the best course-completion time since 2008. Their best overall time
of 3 minutes and 17 seconds earned the first-place trophy in the high
school division that year.

More than 350,000 people watched live and archived coverage of the
spring 2012 race on NASA TV and on UStream. For archived footage of
the competition, visit:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-msfc

For images and additional information about past races, visit:


http://www.nasa.gov/moonbuggy


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