NASA wants to put Man back on the Moon and will need the help of robots for the Artemis mission to "survive" off Earth. With this in mind, the American space agency launched a contest for the general public, having chosen the five winners of a challenge that aimed to improve a part of the, already in development, Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (RASSOR).
The RASSOR Bucket Drum Design Challenged contest took place in March, with NASA proposing participants to publish 3D models of the robot on an online platform. The objective had been to demonstrate improvements in the robot technology, in a contest that had more than 350 applications.
The Regolith Trap project by Caleb Clausing was the big winner, with the team receiving 3,000 dollars. NASA speaks of an "innovative solution" that allows you to capture regoliths through a door, which are the loose layers of materials that cover a solid rock. Being dust tolerant, the system will allow working with large quantities of these materials.
In addition to this project, another four were selected, which aim to improve the robot's task. The monetary awards range from 2,000 to 250 dollars, with the winners being from the United States, Canada, Austria and Romania.
In a statement, NASA's Schuler said this was a very successful challenge. "We are committed to evaluating and testing these concepts even further, as we continue to develop and work on RASSOR", he explained.
With the Artemis mission, NASA intends to return astronauts to the moon, namely the first woman and the next man. The goal is that this will happen by 2024.
