NASA's Regolith Excavation Challenge concludes with three winners

NASA’s Regolith Excavation Challenge has concluded and there are three winners, first, second, and third place. According to Parabolic Arc, the winners are:

“Paul’s Robotics – Worcester, Massachusetts – 439 kilograms – $500,000
Terra Engineering – Gardena, California – 270.6 kilograms – $150,000
Braundo Rancho – Palos Verdes, California – 263.75 kilograms – $100,000”

The Regolith Excavation Challenge, as part of the Centennial Challenges program, took place over the weekend at Moffett Field in California. The goal was to use either a teleoperated or autonomous device to excavate at least 150 kilograms of simulated lunar regolith within thirty minutes. The Regolith Excavation Challenge was conducted on behalf of NASA by the California Space Education and Workforce Institute (CSEWI) with NASA providing the prize money. Twenty three teams competed for the prize money this year.

The Regolith Excavation Challenge was judged important because future lunar astronauts will “live off the land” by excavating lunar regolith and extracting useful materials from it, such as oxygen and even recently discovered water molecules that seem to be bound within lunar topsoil. The competing teams advanced the technology necessary for this kind of operation without a lot of investment from NASA.