MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — New student team members, new vehicle design and new vision and goals are part of the optimism as the Engineering Technology Experimental Vehicles lunar rover team at Middle Tennessee State University returns to the 2025 Human Exploration Rover Challenge.
Seven undergraduate students, including drivers Domonic Dalton and Angela Thongdinharath, have been working all hours for eight months in preparation for the challenge Friday and Saturday, April 11-12, at the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
The NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge is a rigorous and continuously evolving activity engaging students in hands-on engineering design. It is an annual competition for college and high school students to design, build and race human-powered, collapsible vehicles over simulated lunar/Martian terrain.
“Our goal is to complete the course. It would be nice to win an award,” said Philip Sheffield, a first-year graduate student guiding the team. “We made mistakes, but we learned along the way.”
Past MTSU teams were used to awards and high finishes. They were first in the nation and third internationally in 2015 and seventh overall in 2016. MTSU students earned the Phoenix Award in 2022 and the Neil Armstrong Best Design Award in 2014 and 2020.
Facing challenges - Tyler Smith, 19, a freshman aerospace professional pilot major from Grays Lake, Illinois, near Wisconsin, is the only non-engineering major on the team. He learned about the team at a career fair. Smith, who “originally wanted to be in engineering, but math wasn’t for me,” has attended space camp in Huntsville the past seven years and will work it again this summer.
“We have had hurdles along the way,” Smith said, adding that “testing revealed design flaws leading to last-minute design choices. There have been good challenges. We have learned team-building skills. We’ve had long nights and long weekends.”
The drivers - Dalton, 21, a mechatronics engineering major from Murfreesboro, took the rover for a short-lived spin Friday, April 4, with teammate Marco Montoya.
“We tested it, it got stuck in a ditch and broke an axle. You could see straight through the axle,” Dalton said, adding he had tested the rover previously. They replaced the aluminum parts with steel axles.
Thongdinharath, 20, a sophomore mechatronics engineering major from Smyrna, hopes to get a turn on the rover before the team departs Thursday, April 10.
“It’s an eye-opening experience,” she said. “We’re happy to get more hands-on experience.” Her involvement has included taking measurements and helping with the wheel design.
Other team members include Max Brooks, Demaine Williamson, Niraj Yadav and Lydia Ashby. Also making the trip will be machine shop coordinator Rick Taylor and advisor Saeed Foroudastan, associate dean for the College of Basic and Applied Sciences.
- To learn more about engineering technology, visit https://et.mtsu.edu.
