Lunar Regolith Centennial Challenge: First Attempts
"Four teams of backyard inventors vied to dig as much simulated lunar soil as possible in half an hour at NASA's Regolith Excavation Challenge on Saturday, but no one scooped up the $125,000 first prize.
The teams were trying to excavate 150 kilograms of the mock soil, or "regolith", using no more than 30 watts of power - enough to run a refrigerator light bulb - and dump the soil in a bin. None of the teams reached the 150-kilogram minimum, but glum faces were nowhere to be found at the day's end."
http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn11846-no-one-scoops-the-prize-at-moon-digger-contest.html
I agree with Ken Davidian that this contest seems to be following the same pattern as the space elevator. Cool ideas hampered by lack of competitor experience in the first couple attempts, and I'd say, some inexperience and logistical SNAFUs by the contest organizers. These guys only got to try out their machines on lunar simulant a week before the final competition; too late to make careful revisions. As these programs go on, hopefully both the competing teams and the organizers will get things running more smoothly.
The teams were trying to excavate 150 kilograms of the mock soil, or "regolith", using no more than 30 watts of power - enough to run a refrigerator light bulb - and dump the soil in a bin. None of the teams reached the 150-kilogram minimum, but glum faces were nowhere to be found at the day's end."
http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn11846-no-one-scoops-the-prize-at-moon-digger-contest.html
I agree with Ken Davidian that this contest seems to be following the same pattern as the space elevator. Cool ideas hampered by lack of competitor experience in the first couple attempts, and I'd say, some inexperience and logistical SNAFUs by the contest organizers. These guys only got to try out their machines on lunar simulant a week before the final competition; too late to make careful revisions. As these programs go on, hopefully both the competing teams and the organizers will get things running more smoothly.