What is a Moonbuggy?
A moonbuggy is a human-powered vehicles that addresses a series of engineering problems that are similar to problems faced by the original designers of the rovers used on the Apollo missions. Some of the design constraints include the need to fit or be collapsible to fit into a 4 foot cubic volume, lightweight enough for two drivers, one male and one female, to carry it and robust enough to complete a grueling course comprised of simulated lunar terrain including craters, rocks, lava ridges, inclines and loose soil. This competition is held each spring at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama and is sponsored by NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center. The complete rules for the event can be found on the NASA Great Moonbuggy Race site.
2008-2009 Team Members
Nick Hooten, Senior
Eli Hooten, Senior
Chris Woody, Senior
Stetson Roof, Junior
Caleb Reddick, Junior
Kristin Davis, Junior
Dr. James Rogers, Faculty Advisor
Design of 2008-2009 MSU Moonbuggy
The 2007-2008 MSU Moonbuggy finished 2nd in the NASA Great Moonbuggy Race. Given the success of that vehicle, the 2008-2009 design team set out to improve some key features of the previous year's design including minimizing weight and designing a more reliable powertrain. They also decided to change from a rear swing-arm suspension to a four-wheel indenpendent suspension.
The frame of the 2008-2009 moonbuggy was similar in size and shape to the previous year's vehicle but heavy mild carbon steel square tubing was replaced with much lighter thin-walled chromoly (4130) round tubing.
Another major design change was to relocated the transmission. In past designs, the transmission has been mounted in the center of the vehicle about which it rotates in order to fit in the 4 foot cube. Past experience has shown the loads in this area can create stress on the shifting mechanism which makes it difficult to shift. Therefore, the transmission was moved out of the center of the car where a jack shaft was used to transmit power from the pedals to the transmssion. Moving the transmission made it both easier to mount and shift.
The final major design modification was the rear suspension. The previous year's vehicle used a simple swing-arm design supported by light-weight shock cord. A flaw with this design was that it allowed the rear drive sprocket to rotate with respect to the transmission sprocket causing the chain to derail. That was corrected by mounting chain guides on either side of the sprocket which were effective in keeping the chain on the sprockets. In order to eliminate this complexity, the swing-arm suspension was replaced by a double-wishbone independent suspension. Since the final drive sprocket in this design is rigidly mounted, the need for chain guides is eliminated.
While the hope was for a lighter, easier to shift moonbuggy this year, delays and manufacturing limited testing and the 2008-2009 Moonbuggy placed 6th in the NASA Great Moonbuggy Race. While not what the team hoped for, they continued the MSU tradition of always finishing in the top 10 of the competition.
Past Moonbuggies and Results
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 The 2007 Moonbuggy Team placed 5th and won the Most Unique Design Award |
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