page_title: NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge
section_title: Course
hierarchical_section_title: NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge / Course
caption_attribution_description: English: Course map The NASA Great Moonbuggy Race course and specific obstacles vary slightly in detail from year to year. This outline gives participants a general idea of the course layout. The starting line is located under the space shuttle, near the “Pits” Area where moonbuggies are inspected and repaired. Obstacle 1 is under the space shuttle. Next, the course slopes up slightly on a paved path that leads to Obstacle 2, travels over a hill, and then slopes downward to Obstacle 3. A sharp turn to the left leads through the U.S Space &amp; Rocket Center’s rocket display area to Obstacles 4 and 5. The course turns sharply to the right, remaining on asphalt and moving uphill through Obstacles 6, 7, and 8. At the end of this straight section, a sharp turn brings participants to Obstacles 9 and 10, on the circular downhill path leading to the lunar crater area. The course veers left into the permanent crater area and Obstacle 11. Racers must take a 360-degree, clockwise turn around this simulated lunar surface. Its largest interior crater includes a challenging 18-inch (45 cm) change in terrain. Exiting the crater area, moonbuggies turn right toward Obstacles 12, 13, and 14, on a path that starts flat, then slopes uphill. At the last of these obstacles, it slopes downward again. Speed bumps help slow descent. Finally, the course takes a left turn as racers enter the shuttle area and tackle Obstacles 15, 16, and 17 before reaching the finish line.
context_page_description: The NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge, prior to 2014 referred to as the Great Moonbuggy Race, is an annual competition for high school and college students to design, build, and race human-powered, collapsible vehicles over simulated lunar/Martian terrain. NASA sponsors the competition, first held in 1994, and, since 1996, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center hosts.
  Students created vehicles dubbed "moonbuggies" to face challenges similar to those engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center addressed in preparation for Apollo 15. On that mission, on July 31, 1971, the first Lunar Roving Vehicle extended the range of astronauts on the moon to allow for further exploration than was otherwise possible. Two other rovers were sent to the moon on subsequent missions.
  With the 2014 changes in the contest, the motivation changed to mimicking design challenges faced by engineers designing rovers for future exploration missions to a variety of celestial bodies.
  The first race, in 1994, was held on July 16, the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch. It featured six college teams who competed on the same course as had been used to test the lunar rovers previously.
context_section_description: The course is designed to test rovers for stability over varying simulated lunar or extraterrestrial terrain—bumpy, sloped, and rocky—including some tight turns. The first course was the actual track used by Mobility Test Articles, auditioning versions of Lunar Roving Vehicles that were used on the moon. For the third race the course was moved a few miles, to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. There, the track has taken varying paths through the rocket park and around the permanent lunar crater feature at the museum. Each year, the obstacles change slightly.
  The obstacles are constructed of discarded tires, plywood, some 20 tons of gravel and five tons of sand, all to simulate lunar craters, basins, and rilles. The contest is challenging: in 2009, 29 of 68 teams competing did not complete the race. Sometimes the placement of the obstacle is an issue, with some teams hitting obstacles too fast after a downhill stint.
  Before students tackle the race course, their vehicles must pass inspection. At the team's start time, the two riding students must carry the buggy, collapsed to fit in a 5-foot (1.5 m) cube (pre-2014 a 4-foot (1.2 m) cube), for 20 feet (6.1 m), then expand the rover and ride it across the obstacles and along the track, avoiding cones marking the edges of the course, bales of hay, and other obstructions, while successfully navigating the modest hills of the terrain and obstacles. After the race, another inspection assesses the condition of the vehicle, with time penalties if parts are missing.
caption: Since 1996, the course winds through the rocket park at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.  This map shows the 2012 course.
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