SU engineering students build moonbuggy racers

• By JORDAN BLUM
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Apr 3, 2009 - Page: 1B

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A group of Southern University students spent their spring break last week hard at work on campus. But their minds were much farther away, dreaming of leaping lunar craters on the moon.

The students will re-enact the first moon ride starting today as they aim for a Jaguar victory at the 16th annual Great Moonbuggy Race at NASA’s U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala. The engineered buggies must travel over a half-mile lunar terrain course that includes simulated craters, lava ridges, inclines and lunar soil.

Southern is sending two mechanical engineering teams to compete with their moonbuggies — or lunar roving vehicles — while Scotlandville Magnet High School will represent southern Louisiana in the high school division.

“We really have high expectations,” said Southern senior Matthew Chemin, of Denham Springs, who is driving the newest two-person buggy. “It’ll be an experience driving it. It’s not like riding a bicycle.”

“We aim to be the best,” said Southern senior Darrell Hunter, of Baton Rouge, noting that the teams have worked well together despite their different backgrounds and numerous differences of opinions.

“We have some peas of a different pod,” Hunter said with a laugh.

Competitors in the NASA-sponsored race range from Ohio State University to the German Space Education Institute to the Delhi College of Engineering in India. About 80 vehicles are registered in all.

Edgar Blevins, Southern associate professor of mechanical engineering, said he is proud of how his students have stepped up with their senior design projects. The first semester is spent designing the vehicles, while the second semester involves fabrication.

The competition is extra motivation, he said, and shows the students that they can be among the best worldwide.

“HBCUs (historically black colleges and universities) are not as prevalent in national competitions,” Blevins said. “I want our students to be able to compete nationally.”

If anything, Blevins said, the students aim too high. “They have a tendency to have big ideas and visions,” he said. “And I try to scale them back.”

This is Southern’s third year in the competition. Two years ago, Southern’s buggy did not finish the course and last year Southern finished eighth.

Southern is entering two teams for the first time this year – a modified version of last year’s buggy and a brand-new model too. “We added a gear box we didn’t have last year so it won’t get stuck in the simulated crater,” Blevins said.