posted 11-19-2018 05:28 PM               

Space Cover 492: NASA's Robotic Mining Competition

The robots keep coming! For 9 years, teams of undergraduate and graduate students, from universities and colleges throughout the United States, descend upon NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida with their uniquely designed robotic miners, in all shapes and sizes to compete in NASA's Robotic Mining Competition (RMC).

The annual competition has been underway for 9 years with nearly 50 teams participating in the 2018 competition.

The robotic miner from Mississippi State University digs in the mining arena May 24, 2017 at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

Each team's robot traverses and excavates a simulated Martian regolith, seeking to mine and collect the most regolith within a specified amount of time. Teams also are required to submit a Systems Engineering Paper, perform STEM Outreach in their communities and provide a presentation and robot demonstration.

The project provides a competitive environment to foster innovative ideas and solutions that could be used on future NASA's deep space exploration missions.

Could covers for these competitions be precursor covers for the next Mars or Asteroid Rover?