Student Projects

Northwestern University Space Technology and Rocketry Society Space-Tech Team (2025-2026)

Project Manager

Victoria Israel, NUSTARS

Amount Requested

$5,000

Summary

NUSTARS, Northwestern's primary aerospace engineering club, is launching a new Space-Tech branch to compete in the NASA 2026 Lunabotics Challenge, a national competition challenging students to design, build, and operate lunar rovers. These robots simulate construction tasks crucial to future Moon missions, such as berm-building using lunar regolith simulants for radiation shielding and habitat protection.

This initiative provides Northwestern students with the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in mechanical design, electrical integration, autonomy, and systems engineering. Our goal is to build a functioning prototype in Fall 2025, conduct testing and iteration in Winter 2026, and compete in the live challenge in Spring 2026. The team is student-led, interdisciplinary, and committed to being accessible regardless of experience or major.

This new branch represents a foundational opportunity to grow Northwestern’s presence in space robotics while helping undergraduates develop technical, leadership, and collaboration skills that complement their coursework. What makes Lunabotics unique is its emphasis on autonomy, excavation, and mobility over rough terrain, which mimics the real-world challenges of deploying space infrastructure. These requirements offer a more complex, system-level challenge than many traditional undergraduate robotics competitions, providing students with a rare opportunity to work across subsystems under NASA competition standards. With support from the Murphy Society, we aim to build the team’s first-ever Lunabotics rover and establish the foundation for a sustainable, multi-year NASA competition program.

Planned Activities/Investments

Our team began work over the summer with a dedicated group of student engineers focused on early-stage CAD, electrical architecture development, and physical construction of the rover’s base framework. With this foundation in place, Fall Quarter funding will enable the next phase of progress: integrating drivetrain and electrical subsystems, acquiring motors and batteries, and beginning initial mobility testing. With these investments, team members will have the fundamental knowledge and understanding to complete NASA-mandated deliverables such as the Project Management Plan and STEM Engagement Report. In Winter 2026, we will conduct autonomous navigation trials and stress testing on critical components while finalizing the Systems Engineering Paper and a Proof of Life video for NASA review. If selected, we will travel to compete in Spring 2026 at the University of Central Florida and potentially at Kennedy Space Center, where students will operate the rover in a simulated lunar environment and present their work to NASA engineers. This experience provides students with real-time feedback and a capstone-style technical validation of their efforts across the academic year.

Impact

Aerospace and robotics are growing areas of interest for undergraduate students at Northwestern, and Lunabotics is uniquely positioned to support this momentum. This project merges two key areas within the McCormick—aerospace and robotics—giving students real-world experience in autonomous vehicles, mechatronic systems, systems integration, and space applications. These are among the most in-demand skills in both industry and research today. By building a competitive Lunabotics team, we are not only providing students with direct exposure to NASA-aligned engineering challenges but also establishing a pipeline of talent and innovation within Northwestern.

NUSTARS serves an invaluable function for both the department and the student body. Providing undergraduates with hands-on design challenges such as this one helps prepare them for future careers in aerospace, robotics, and related fields, while also fostering a robust and sustainable aerospace community at Northwestern. While the project is rooted in aerospace and robotics, it brings together students across Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, and Civil Engineering—creating a rare interdisciplinary platform for applied learning and innovation. Supporting this project demonstrates McCormick’s commitment to growing and connecting these disciplines through real-world technical challenges.

The impact of this project will be measured quantitatively by comparing our competition performance to peer institutions and tracking the number of students who go on to pursue aerospace and engineering careers. It will also be measured qualitatively through increased student enthusiasm, interdisciplinary collaboration, and the establishment of technical traditions and leadership pipelines that support future NUSTARS teams. These outcomes will be reviewed each quarter and evaluated through internal census reviews and long-term tracking of alumni and project outcomes. Additionally, our expanded STEM outreach efforts will help us engage with the surrounding Chicago community, introducing younger students to the possibilities of engineering and space technology through interactive demonstrations and mentorship opportunities.

Deliverables

The primary deliverable is a functional lunar excavation rover capable of autonomous navigation and berm-building. Additional deliverables include a NASA-style Project Management Plan, STEM Engagement Report, Systems Engineering Paper, and a Proof of Life video submitted as part of the competition requirements. Internally, we will produce robust documentation for all mechanical and electrical subsystems, test results from simulation and real-world trials, and digital content for our website and social platforms to share progress and promote engineering at Northwestern. If selected to attend the final stage of the competition, we will also present our work to NASA judges and other universities at the University of Central Florida and potentially at Kennedy Space Center. While the exact challenge specifications for the 2026 season have not yet been released, they will be finalized by NASA in August 2025, and our deliverables will be tailored to meet those official criteria.

Sustainability

This project is designed to be the first iteration of an annual Lunabotics team under the NUSTARS umbrella. The Murphy Society’s funding will enable the foundational infrastructure and hardware that will support multiple competition cycles in future years. The team is building a strong knowledge management system, including documentation, CAD models, and code repositories, to ensure that future teams can build upon past efforts. We also plan to pursue additional grants, such as the McCormick Student Activities Board (MSAB) grant and external sponsorships to support growth in future years. Like NUSTARS’ rocketry and propulsion teams, the Lunabotics team will use each year’s experience to train new members, refine processes, and advance the club’s technical capabilities. Ultimately, this project will become self-sustaining through internal leadership pipelines and diversified funding sources.

Previous Projects

While this is the Lunabotics team’s first year applying for Murphy Society funding, the broader NUSTARS organization has used past Murphy support to make meaningful contributions to student aerospace experiences. In 2025, the Rocket Team used Murphy funding to build a 112-inch launch vehicle with a deployable radio payload and an actively controlled recovery system. The team placed in the top 10 of NASA’s Student Launch competition and authored six detailed NASA technical reports. Murphy support helped make this possible by funding rocket construction, enabling over 250 STEM engagements with K–12 students, and giving McCormick students the rare opportunity to conduct wind tunnel testing at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. That project exemplified the technical ambition, outreach impact, and educational value the Lunabotics team now seeks to replicate and expand upon.

Budget Overview

Our total budget is $5,000, and funding will be spent across three major categories: chassis construction, safety equipment, and electrical components.

• ~$1,000 will support the construction of the rover chassis using aluminum tubing and T-slot extrusions.
• ~$500 will be spent on safety equipment, including an emergency stop system and personal protective equipment such as respirators.
• ~$3,500 will fund electrical components essential for rover mobility and autonomy, including six brushless DC motors, six planetary gearboxes, two LiFePO4 batteries, chargers, prototyping kits, and an RPLidar A2 sensor for navigation.

These costs are based on vendor estimates and past procurement experience. No individual category exceeds the limits of our funding request, and the budget is structured to enable first-phase rover construction and testing during the academic year.

Total Budget Amount: $5,000

Matching Funds

We do not have any commitments or sources for matching funds. However, we are committed to leveraging additional resources to maximize the impact of any funds awarded by the Murphy Society. We are also in the process of developing corporate sponsorship opportunities to ensure the long-term sustainability of this branch.

Faculty Adviser/Department

Nick Marchuk/Mechanical Engineering