Nasa’s Great Moonbuggy Race Innovative Student Projects

The Society of Manufacturing Engineers student chapter at Southwest Missouri State University decided to follow the lead of another student group and build a “Moonbuggy” to race in the NASA sponsored “Great Moonbuggy Race” held annually at Marshall Space Flight Center, in Huntsville, Alabama. The first buggy was designed by a small team and constructed as a part of a senior level capstone course. The buggy completed the preliminary qualification run successfully but lost a drive chain on the second run. The second year a portion of the design was completed in an introductory design class. The class, working in teams, was able to develop a successful dual range drive system that allowed high torque for difficult obstacles and high speed for flat stretches. They were able to utilize the mechanics/statics that learned in a previous course.