Cornell team takes second in Moonbuggy race

Students Marc Emond, M.Eng., and Simmie Bernan '06 drive the Cornell Moonbuggy team's entry in NASA's "Great Moonbuggy Race" April 3 in Huntsville, Ala. The race requires a team of one man and one woman to drive a human-powered vehicle over a simulated moonscape peppered with bumps and other obstacles. Courtesy of NASA

By Bill Steele

Cornell came in second in NASA's 11th annual "Great Moonbuggy Race" in Huntsville, Ala., April 3, losing to North Dakota State University by only a few seconds.

The competition, inspired by the compact vehicle used by astronauts in the 1960s Moon landings, challenges students to design and build a light, compact, human-powered vehicle and race it over a simulated Lunar landscape. The vehicle must collapse to fit in a cube, 4 feet on a side. Racers must carry the collapsed vehicle 20 feet and then set it up, racing against the clock, before actually driving over the course. Scoring is based on both setup and race time. North Dakota ran the course in 3:31 and Cornell in 3:33, but the Cornell team faltered on setup, so the total time was North Dakota 3:46 against Cornell's 4:23.

"I don't know how they did it," said Andy Ruina, professor of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics and the team adviser, of the Cornell team's effort. "Last time I saw their moonbuggy, it was all in pieces." The team was still working on the vehicle the night before they left for Alabama, he explained.

"We basically had a rough time putting the buggy together at the last minute. We ... worked on it all night till the last day," said Daniel Hormaza '04, one of the team leaders. "Lots of people doubted us, and we encountered lots of difficulties and problems, but we came through with really hard work and getting second place."

NASA had 27 college-level entries in the competition from 13 states and Puerto Rico, with several schools entering two vehicles. There was a separate high school division. This is the third time Cornell teams have entered the competition. The first attempt, in 2002, was a "learning experience," as the team had grossly underestimated the difficulty of the course and found their vehicle wouldn't hold together. Last year, two Cornell teams entered, one with a new vehicle and another with a redesigned version of the 2002 model, and took first and second place, respectively.

In addition to Hormaza, the 2004 team consisted of Robyn Harmon '06, who was co-team leader, and Roman Akhmechet '06, Liz Connelly '04, Nick Gerasimowicz '04, Diego Jimenez '04, with "a little help" from Roberto Malvaez '04, Brett Spicer '04, Adam Maher '06, Pete Moran '06 and Ellie Weyer '06. Marc Emond, M.Eng., and Simmie Bernan '06 drove the vehicle. Sponsors are Borg Warner, Emerson Power Transmission, the Bartels family, David H. Liu Foundation and LIFE (Learning Initiatives for Future Engineers).