Want to make your mark on the moon? Now you can — thanks to these Texas students
A majority of us will probably never be able to travel the 238,900 miles to the moon, but that doesn’t mean we can’t leave our mark on it. And it’s all thanks to a group of University of Texas at Austin students.
A rover named LEGACI (short for “Lunar Engraver with Geologic Autonomous Carving Instrument) that can be programmed to write short messages on the Moon’s surface was designed by a group of 10 students from the Cockrell School of Engineering. The idea won two awards at NASA’S RASC-AL annual design competition, NASA announced. The awards were “Excellence in Commercial Innovation” and “Commercial Cislunar Space Development.”
“I am so proud of the work my team has done this year to achieve this great honor,” said student Brianna Caughron, the team leader, the school’s website reported . “I want to thank them and our faculty advisor for all the effort they have put into our project that helped us be successful. I never imagined an idea I had walking back to my apartment after class last fall could turn into something so rewarding and meaningful.”
If you want scribble on the moon, it will cost you. The rover won’t charge by the letter, but rather how long it will take it to write the message. According to CW33, the rover charges $9.99 per second, so the students expect that the average message to cost between $500 and $600.
“At first glance, this concept seemed a little out of left field,” student Nader Syed said, according to CW33. “But thanks to months of work by people I was lucky enough to be on a team with, it became tangible. Real. And I think that’s engineering in a nutshell — making an idea real, something out of nothing. I’m really proud of this project and this team, and I know I’ll remember this for a long time.”