The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) – an organization dedicated to space exploration, organizes various competitions to engage and retain students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). NASA’s Lunabotics Mining Competition is an attempt to serve this purpose. The challenge for students at university level is to design and build an excavator called Lunabot, which can mine and deposit a minimum of 10 kilograms of lunar stimulant within 10 minutes. The complexities of the challenge include the abrasive characteristics of the regolith, the weight and size limitations of the Lunabot, and the ability to telerobotically or autonomously control the Lunabot from a remote mission control center.
Around 50 teams from all over the world are contending for the coveted trophy, the ‘Joe Kosmo Award’. KMC Lunabotics Team of Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi is ready to give a tough fight in this competition. Kirori Mal College will be representing India and it is the ‘only’ non-technical team participating in the competition, which is a matter of pride for India and DU.
The KMC Lunabotics team is a group of 29 highly dedicated students from the field of Physics and Engineering, who aspire to participate in the NASA’s fourth annual Lunabotics Mining Competition (LMC), to be held at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, in May 2013. In this highly acclaimed International Competition, participation is inarguably sought out by the most Elite Institutions in the world. The students of Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi are being mentored under the guidance of the department staff advisor, Dr. Sumitra Mohanthy and the team is being led by the most eligible and experienced participant Anubrata Saha. Over the years, Kirori Mal College has also participated in prestigious global competitions like the NASA Great Moonbuggy Race where the team came out with flying colours by winning the “System Safety Award”. Furthermore, last year at the 3rd annual Lunabotics mining competition the team bagged the “Best Initial Design Award”. KMC was amongst the final teams, ranking 7th among 60 teams of various reputed universities from different parts of the world. It was a moment of pride when KMC was declared the best Asian team at NASA.
This time, the team has decided to go a step further and compete on a more challenging yet realistic scale. KMC Lunabiotics Team is going autonomous this year, which means that the bot will be able to maneuver through the lunarena itself .The LMC does not only provide assiduous students with a platform to display their expertise in the field of science and technology, but will also help enhance their creative prowess and aptitude.
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