About the Regolith Excavation Challenge

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Selected to serve as an Allied Organization by the NASA Centennial Challenges Program, the California Space Education and Workforce Institute (CSEWI) administers the Regolith Excavation Challenge. The Regolith Excavation Challenge is Co-Hosted by the California Space Authority (CSA) and the California Polytechnic State Universtiy, San Luis Obispo College of Engineering. The event is sponsored by Diani Building Corporation, Empirical Systems Aerospace, and the California Business Transportation and Housing Agency.

The Regolith Excavation Challenge promotes the development of new technologies to excavate lunar regolith. Excavation is a necessary first step towards lunar resource utilization, and the unique physical properties of lunar regolith make excavation a difficult technical challenge. Advances in lunar regolith excavation have the potential to contribute significantly to the nation's space exploration operations.

  • Each team's excavation system must be fully autonomous.
  • Systems will perform in a square "sandbox" filled with compressed lunar regolith simulant.
  • Minimum performance requirements (mass, power, and time limits) of the system will be set for each year.
  • In 2008 the total purse of $750,000 will be shared by the winners who meet all competition requirements.

The 2008 Regolith Excavation Challenge rules can be found here [pdf].