KSC-20160517-PH_SWW001_0050
Participants in NASA's 7th annual Robotic Mining Competition tote their robotic excavators to the competition arena on the first day of competitive runs following morning practice rounds. The RMC is set up for college students to design and build a mining robot that can travel over a simulated Martian surface, excavate regolith and deposit as much of it as possible into a bin, all within 10 minutes. Team members may control their bots remotely from a trailer where their only line of sight is via a computer screen, or completely autonomously, with their programming skills put to the test as their robot handles the mission on its own. The competition, which takes place May 16 to 20 at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, focuses on technologies necessary to extract consumables such as oxygen and water to support human life and provide methane fuel to spacecraft. Photo credit: NASA/Bill White
KSC-20160517-PH_SWW001_0050
Participants in NASA's 7th annual Robotic Mining Competition tote their robotic excavators to the competition arena on the first day of competitive runs following morning practice rounds. The RMC is set up for college students to design and build a mining robot that can travel over a simulated Martian surface, excavate regolith and deposit as much of it as possible into a bin, all within 10 minutes. Team members may control their bots remotely from a trailer where their only line of sight is via a computer screen, or completely autonomously, with their programming skills put to the test as their robot handles the mission on its own. The competition, which takes place May 16 to 20 at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, focuses on technologies necessary to extract consumables such as oxygen and water to support human life and provide methane fuel to spacecraft. Photo credit: NASA/Bill White