Register for the Great Moonbuggy Race 2012

December 16, 2011 —NASA is challenging student inventors to gear up for the agency's 19th annual Great Moonbuggy Race. Registration is open for the engineering design and racing contest set to culminate in a two-day event in Huntsville, Alabama, on April 13-14, 2012. Participating high schools, colleges, and universities may register up to two teams and two vehicles. Registration for U.S. teams closes February 10. International registration closes January 9. For complete rules and to register, visit http://moonbuggy.msfc.nasa.gov Since 1994, NASA has challenged student teams to build and race human-powered rovers of their own design. These fast, lightweight moonbuggies address many of the same engineering challenges overcome by Apollo-era lunar rover developers at Marshall in the late 1960s. Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and James Irwin drove the first rover on the moon's surface on July 31, 1971. Two more rovers followed during the Apollo 16 and 17 missions in 1972, expanding astronauts' reach surface and permitting greater focus on scientific exploration. As they prepare for the race, student teams carry on that tradition of engineering ingenuity, competing to post the fastest vehicle assembly and race times in their divisions, while incurring the fewest penalties. The rocket center's challenging, looping, curving half-mile course of gravel embankments, sand pits and obstacles mimics lunar craters and ancient, fossilized lava flows. The course gives racers a realistic moon-traversing experience — minus the airlessness and weightlessness. Prizes are awarded to the three teams in each division with the fastest final times. NASA and industry sponsors present additional awards for engineering ingenuity, team spirit and overcoming unique challenges - such as the race weekend's most memorable crash.

A team member helps push a moonbuggy through the sandy soil during the 2011 competition. Image credit: NASA A team turns a corner during the 2011 Great Moonbuggy Race. Image credit: NASA

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