| Q: |
What kind of range does the navigation system for the Lunar Electric Rover require? Also, how much cargo volume and weight can be devoted to navigational systems for the rover? |
| A: |
The Navigation requirements are: a. Determine autonomous rover position to 30m at any lunar location; b. Scientific site characterization to an accuracy of 1m; c. Determine autonomous rover while roving and in real time to 100m of any lunar location.; d. Communication line of sight zone for communication and navigation purposes is within 6 km of the PCT with smooth moon surface and 10m PCT antenna height off of surface. While we’ve not yet gotten to the point where we are considering specific solutions (that is to say no hardware is being called out yet), in assembling an architecture, I am mindful of many of the solutions that are already out there. This includes the notion of using VLF transmissions as means of navigating in rough terrain. I can see requiring NavCat-2 assets (like LER) being required to be capable of determining its position to some TBD accuracy independent of any external inputs. Such a system should then be capable of incorporating inputs from other assets (be they LRS, PCT or whatever) as they become available to refine that solution to the maximum extent possible. The 1m requirement probably comes from the best pixel resolution that is to be available from orbital mapping (a la LRO) and I suspect the others are inherited from Apollo as a starting point. As I said before, I’ve had a few conversations regarding VLF as a means of relative nav when a direct line of sight is not available. My question here is does that work over the horizon? Could I push the range limit of a PCT to 10km if it used VLF (rather than making it 29m tall for a direct line of sight). It seems common sense to limit the range requirement for navigation contact to a distance that an astronaut could be expected to be able to walk – 10km. |
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| Q: | How much cargo volume and weight can be devoted to navigational systems for the rover? |
| A: |
The mass is 14 kg; volume is still TBD |
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| Q: | Can international teams enter the contest? |
| A: | Not this year; next year we hope to open the contest to all that want to enter. |
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| Q: | Can the team members be changed after the notice of intent is submitted? |
| A: | Yes, as long as the final paper has all the team members included when the paper is submitted. |
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| Q: | Does the NASA funding need to be disclosed in the intent letter, in the final paper, or both? |
| A: | Funding from NASA does not need to be disclosed until the final paper...as part of the ancillary material. Students or Faculty advisors of student contestants that receive NASA funds should disclose the sources and levels of funding in a separate attachment as part of the ancillary material of the entry. If the funding directly impacts work done for the contest entry, that should be described in detail. |
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| Q: | Can you enter if you miss the Dec 15th notice of intent deadline? |
| A: | Yes, but you should send in your notice of intent as soon as possible. |
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| Q: | Are student release forms required with the notice of intent or with the final entry? |
| A: | Final entry only. |
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| Q: | Will the instrument actually need to be built? |
| A: | The initial contest is a paper design only...you do not need to actually build the instrument. If funding allows us to do a follow on, we may invite winning paper designs to a build phase OR if funding allows us to award internships, students may be able to build their instrument during their internship. |
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| Q: | Can there be more than one faculty advisor? We're looking at have one scientist type and one engineering type advisor. |
| A: | Absolutely. There is no limit to the number of faculty advisors or team members. |
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| Q: | I work for a faculty advisor that supports NASA in other areas, not Moon specific. Would this prohibit my participation in the contest? |
| A: | No, it would not prohibit your participation. However, if you receive NASA funding for your research on NASA missions, then you must disclose that in your entry per the submission requirements. In addition, if faculty advisors receive NASA funding in areas similar to the contest, that must also be disclosed in the ancillary portion of your entry document. |
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| Q: | At one point the web site says "open to any full-time student", and elsewhere it says "any U.S. citizen enrolled..." - is there a requirement that all members of a team must be US citizens? (We are planning to enter a team based on the Aerospace Engineering department-required senior capstone design course, and would not be able to limit participation to US citizens.) |
| A: | US citizenship is required to receive a NASA internship or a cash prize. That does not mean that non-US citizens at your university could not be part of your team. It means that they would not qualify for an internship should an internship be offered to your team. If your team is selected for a travel award, you can decide how to allocate the funds among team members. |
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| Q: | Q. Is there a limit on team size? |
| A: | No limit on size of team. |
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| Q: | The web site lists eight topics, which appear to be a limited set of the much longer ESMD topic list provided to Space Grant universities. Are you limiting entries to these eight topics, or will you accept projects off the full ESMD list? |
| A: | Topics were given as examples of missions that may be required by the moon rovers. You are free to add another mission, either from the longer ESMD list or one you come up with on your own, just be sure to explain that in your entry and your rationale for choosing that mission. |
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| Q: | Space Grant has funding to support university teams involved in exactly this sort of NASA design competition - would use of Space Grant funds be disqualifying? |
| A: | No, but you need to disclose the SG support as part of full disclosure in the entry package. If that is not explained on the entry pages, I will make sure that it is added. |
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| Q: | A number of our seniors work on NASA-supported research on campus, or work as interns at NASA Goddard. As long as their NASA-supported activities are separate and independent of this project, is this disqualifying for their participation? |
| A: | As you describe the internships, they would not disqualify a team member. All NASA involvement of team members, including faculty, must be disclosed in the entry package. For example, name of student, mentor at the NASA Center, project abstract and amount of funding received. |