 |
Congratulations to members of the IM-SPARX (Surface Payload Autonomous Rover Explorer) senior capstone project, which won the aerospace engineering department award at the A. James Clark School of Engineering’s Capstone Design Expo, held on Wednesday, May 6.
The annual event showcases senior capstone projects from across the Clark School, providing students with an opportunity to demonstrate their engineering skills, ability to present and communicate, and understanding of societal impacts and ethical considerations. A panel of judges selects award winners from each Clark School department.
IM-SPARX tackled various problems inherent in commercial lunar payload services (CLPS): surviving the launch and transmission to the lunar surface, operating and relaying data to Earth, storing and deploying payloads, and integrating with a lander. The mission: design a semi-autonomous CLPS-class lunar rover capable of delivering payloads within a one kilometer radius of the landing site over the course of one lunar day (14 Earth days).
Working in UMD’s Space Systems Lab, with sponsor Intuitive Machines’ Eclipse lunar lander, and with advising from Lecturer Brent W. Barbee and Professor David Akin, the team provided the ability for customers to transport and drop scientific payloads at various points far afield.
Requiring advanced structural analysis, power and thermal planning, and an in-depth autonomy and navigation stack, the SPARX team designed the hardware and software from the bottom up, for an entire lunar surface mission.
The team consisted of students Adam Ben Youssef, Saanchi Desai, Noah Ferrara, Thanh Huynh, Caleb Hyder, Kiefer Iacaruso, Vijay Jetton, Benjamin Kraft, Sachin Krishna-Rogers, Duncan Kuchar, Spyridon Mazis, Pranav Narayan, Luka Liang-Sheng Pichler, Srikrishnan Sridhar, Pearl Uva, Sayali Vispute, Corbin Voorhees, Rayne Wiser, and Mitchell Woelfer.
May 13, 2026
|
