A group of MSOE students and recent grads took home first place at the NASA Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium Conference in the Undergraduate Research category for their design and construction of lunar terrain testing chambers for rover validation.

Team members Mitchell Brust ’26, Ruth Dobberpuhl ’26, Ethan Haselwood and Ian Rasmussen were the masterminds behind the project. Their goal was to create a controlled environment where they could evaluate rover mobility and excavation performance using lunar regolith simulant. Before designing the test chamber, the team researched different simulants and their particle size distributions, compared them to Apollo lunar soil data and evaluated potential material blends. They applied this research to their test chamber design, which provides approximately 7.5 feet of clearance around the rover for mobility testing.

“Winning first place was a really rewarding experience, particularly because this project involved several months of hands-on design, research and construction,” said Brust. “It was exciting to see our work recognized alongside the other undergraduate research being conducted across Wisconsin.”

There were more than 200 attendees and 60 research projects presented at the conference. The team credits their MSOE education for preparing them to take on the competition and take home the top prize.

“The combination of hands-on engineering projects, design courses, laboratory work and opportunities to work with real hardware at MSOE gave us experience taking a problem from an initial concept through design, fabrication and testing,” said Brust.

Their testing chamber is now available for continued use by the MSOE NASA Lunabotics team. There is opportunity for the Lunabotics team to expand on this project for more extensive rover testing, characterization of different lunar simulants, and using the chamber to collect performance data that can inform future rover designs. Neighboring universities have also expressed interest in utilizing the test chamber.

“One of the things I enjoyed most about the project was that it brought together research and practical engineering,” said Brust. “Rather than the work ending with a presentation or analysis, we were able to build something that can actually be used by MSOE students and researchers to test lunar rover technology here in Milwaukee. The possibilities for testing in the facility are quite expansive, and we’re excited to see how it can be used in the future.”