Our Crowdfunding Groups
Update: Thanks to the generous support of our donors, we have reached our stretch goal of $3,500 and have issued a final $4,500 stretch goal which will:
Our crowdfunding campaign has also been quite successful, reaching $3,500 in a matter of days after our last stretch-goal! With having just over two weeks left for our crowdfunding campaign, our team is wanting to extend the goal once more to $4,500. The reason for the additional increase is to allow the purchase or fabrication of a few additional components to maximize useful data for a successful rover in competition:
UNC Charlotte's Astrobotics team is a group of 10 multi-disciplinary engineering students who will be competing in the 2021 NASA Robotic Mining Competition (RMC) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). The RMC is now part of NASA’s Artemis Student Challenge. The Artemis program is specifically directed towards exploring the Moon’s lunar surface by 2024.
Large amounts of water in the form of ice and a hydrated mineral, known as lunar regolith, exist on the Moon. The goal of NASA’s Artemis program is to capture icy regolith samples to ensure human sustainability during the 2024 moon exploration. Due to the ambiguity, NASA has launched the RMC to challenge college students on their creativity and innovative ideas.
This year’s competition objective is to design and build a completely autonomous rover. NASA is also requiring the rovers to be smaller and lighter than previous years because commercial costs to deliver a payload to other planets or moons is roughly $1.2 Million/kg. The rover must be able to traverse the simulated lunar terrain, excavate, store, and deposit collected lunar basaltic regolith simulant (Black Point-1/BP-1) and ice simulant (gravel) into a collector bin successfully. We will have two 15-minute windows to successfully mine a creditable amount of regolith simulant. It is crucial that our team has enough testing time and proper resources to ensure the success of the rover.
We are ecstatic to demonstrate our eminent engineering skills and also educate K-12 students on the importance of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields throughout the project's lifecycle.
Donate today to help our team build a successful rover, compete at KSC, and educate the next generation of robotic engineers. Thank you for helping make this opportunity possible for our team!
You can double or triple the impact of your gift if your employer participates in a matching gift program. To see if your employer has a matching gift program, click here. If your company matches, complete your matching gift form and submit it to UNC Charlotte via mail (UNC Charlotte Foundation, 9201 University City Boulevard, Charlotte, NC 28223), fax (704-687-7259) or email (mwinslow@uncc.edu).
Helps covers navigation & control subsystem component costs necessary to build an autonomous rover
