Ohio State Engineering students compete in NASA’s 20th Great Moonbuggy Race

by Sarah Logar, Dept. of Materials Science Engineering

Twelve Ohio State University Engineering students have been working hard to create their entry to compete in NASA’s “20th Great Moonbuggy Race” April 25-27 at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

The 2013 Moonbuggy Team, which is advised by Dr. Suresh Babu with Materials Science and Engineering (MSE), is led by President Isaac Kennedy, Vice President Ben Harris, Treasurer Jansen Lenzo, and Secretary Clair Bechie. Rounding out the team are Craig Giles, Loriann Bechie, Rex Alexandre, Wesly Hart, Joan Lee, Kayla Luzadder, Alex Ruff, and Taylor Wyan. Welding engineering (WE) students Kennedy, Harris, Lenzo, Giles, Bechie, and Alexandre will represent the team in Huntsville.

While some of these students are attending the race for the first time, Ohio State has had a strong competition presence since 2008. During that first year, the Buckeyes Moonbuggy team won the “Pit Crew Award” as well as the “Rookie of the Year Award,” and finished in 4th and 3rd place among collegiate teams in 2010 and 2011, respectively. 

Preparing tirelessly since August for this year’s challenge, the team began their project by deconstructing and analyzing last year’s model to make improvements for the 2013 race. Once the team developed a new design, they vigorously tested it, driving it over “curbs, large holes, high platforms, and uneven surfaces to test the durability and suspension system,” Lenzo said.

This year’s entry, The Buckeye Buggy, which weighs approximately 185 pounds and is nearly twelve inches high, is an “epic piece of awesomeness with a sick front end,” Kennedy said. Pilots can steer the all-wheel drive vehicle by the front set of wheels, and both drivers can shift their individual gears at the same time as needed to better handle the dynamic changes faced in the course. The .7 mile course is unpredictable, as it mimics the moon’s lunar soil and actual geography of craters, rocks, lava ridges, and inclines.

Since the competition’s infancy in 1994, officials have detailed specific requirements for its racers. The all-student team must put together their moonbuggies just moments before the starting gun goes off. All parts and pieces of the moonbuggy must fit inside a 4-foot cube box as well, as a way to mirror the restrictions set by the original Lunar Rover Vehicles used in Apollo 15, 16, and 17.  Additionally, each pair of drivers must be a male and a female.

As a WE student, Lenzo said that many courses helped the team prepare for the racing challenge. “When designing the moonbuggy, it was very beneficial to have taken MSE classes and be able to calculate the forces and stresses that will be present on the buggy,” Lenzo said. “This student organization is welding-intensive, and we do all of the welding ourselves. Having taken some of the welding courses, we have learned proper procedures and how different welding parameters can affect the mechanical properties of the metals being welded.”

In addition to classes that helped prepare the team for competition, the race itself is educational. “The other teams all help each other,” Kennedy said. “Whether it’s sharing tools in our pit areas or the sharing of information and ideas. No one seems to mind comparing buggies or even swapping design ideas.”

The Moonbuggy Project Team is one of 30 project teams within the College of Engineering that students can join. Teams like this give students practical, real-life learning experiences within the field that teach them how to learn from, and work with, their future colleagues. Additional group competition opportunities in the College of Engineering include the Underwater Robotics Team, Ohio State Steel Bridge Team, and Engineers without Borders, just to name a few.

“Next year, with summer break right after the competition, we will try to build and design a brand new buggy,” Kennedy said. “With a lot of welding engineers on our team, we would like to incorporate some more complex metals like aluminums and titanium into our design.”