Lunar and Planetary Excavation Prototype Development and Testing at the Colorado School of Mines

With NASA's goal of returning to the Moon in a sustainable way, utilizing the local resources is an obvious thought. To be able to utilize the local resources, they need to be gathered and delivered to a target location. At the Colorado School of Mines several excavation system prototypes have been developed over the past several years. The systems include a bucket wheel, a bucket ladder/chain and a backhoe scaled to be able to excavate 50 – 1600 kg/hr using less than 70 Watts during peaks or less than 200 Watts including the mobility platform. This paper will show the prototypes and discuss lessons learned from participating in NASA's centennial challenge and experimental tests.