Amana resident part of NASA finalist team

BROOKINGS, S.D. — Building on the tradition of past student entries in NASA contests, another group of South Dakota State University engineering students has advanced to the finals of a NASA contest.

The team includes sophomore Braxton McGrath of Amana.

The five mechanical engineering students will appear before NASA judges to present their idea and prototype of a rover that can explore rugged and permanently shadowed lunar south pole craters searching for water, ice and other volatiles.

They are one of 14 teams nationwide that will be in Cocoa Beach, Florida, June 10-12.

NASA selects finalists for four categories in its Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts — Academic Linkage competition. SDSU is competing in the large-scale lunar crater prospector category against Iowa State, Tulane, Maryland and Texas universities.

This year's SDSU team is totally new, except for Liam Murray, who transitioned from team lead to graduate adviser. In addition to McGrath, the team consists of seniors Delaney Baumberger, of Blair, Nebraska; Alex Schaar, of Sioux Falls; Dylan Stephens, of Redfield; and sophomore Aiden Carstensen of Cedar Rapids.

The team's entry is dubbed POSEID-N (Prospecting Observation System for Exploration, Investigation, Discovery, and Navigation rover).

Murray, who competes in sprint freestyle and backstroke, is one of three swimmers on the RASC-AL team. Carstensen is a backstroker and McGrath specializes in the butterfly.

They aren't on the team by coincidence. Murray recruited the fellow mechanical engineering students because he could see that the dedication they had in the pool would translate well to the engineering lab.

"Liam extended the opportunity, and we wanted to explore it. We're thankful they are willing to pass on their knowledge and experience to us," Carstensen said.

McGrath said, "As sophomores, we played a much more supportive role. To watch them (the seniors) work and to be able to understand the process better is a priceless experience."

However, the sophomores weren't strictly observers. Murray said they took the lead role in simulated lunar testing, which, in simple terms, involved putting the rover prototype in a sandbox and seeing how well it could maneuver.

The most innovative feature of the rover prospector is a double wishbone bogie suspension system.

A bogie system, a modular subassembly of wheels and axles (think of a rail car), are common in space applications, Stephens said.

However, the double wishbone feature (think a wheel on each end of a "V") is unique. Rather than four wheels in traditional locations, there are double wishbones at each of the points, thus a total of eight wheels.

There also are linear actuators at each of the four corners to allow for vertical movement, Murray said.

In fact, the students' design is unique enough that they have submitted an invention disclosure, the first step in the patent process.

NASA had promised to announce April 5 which of the 75 entries advanced to the finals.

The NASA judges also shared pros and cons on their project. "They loved our idea and said we did an amazing job in the details of the mechanical design," Stephens said.

Between now and June 10, there is a "ton of work" to be done, he said. However, most of the mechanical work is complete.

Students must write a full technical paper, create a poster board and prepare a 30-minute presentation to a panel of NASA and aerospace industry leaders, who will then pepper them with questions.