UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Without textbooks, blueprints, or even a template to follow, Penn State students are working side-by-side with faculty in a rare opportunity to build a robotic spacecraft — the Lunar Lion — that will land on the moon and return high-resolution images, video footage and scientific data.
Led by Michael V. Paul, space systems engineer in the University's Applied Research Laboratory, students and faculty in engineering, physics, astronomy, geoscience, journalism and business are competing against the world's rising stars in space exploration to win the Google Lunar X PRIZE Competition.
"This is an opportunity for Penn State to establish itself as a leader in a growing field — a provider of the best research and the best graduates to the commercial and private space industry," Paul said.
Funding for the mission comes from a combination of philanthropy, corporate sponsors and scientific partners in the private sector. Maria Matthews, who graduated from Penn State in December with a doctoral degree in physics, served as the team's business development coordinator. Her work has given her insight into the diversity of the space industry and opened new doors for her in the field.
Matthews, a California native, was focused on building a career in the space industry. Her adviser told her about Penn State's Lunar Lion and recommended she get involved. "There are people from so many disciplines working on this project," she said. "I thought I'd be here to work on systems engineering, but I've learned so much more about the business side of the project, and it's a lot more exciting to me." She recently started a job at an aerospace start-up in Huntsville, Ala.