Apogee Lunar Rover

The Apogee lunar rover has two arms on either side that when down, rotate and scoop up the lunar regolith and when up, the regolith travels down the arm and is stored in the aluminum box. As the cylinders rotate, they scoop up regolith, pushing the trap door open to be stored inside, and then the trap door shuts so it cannot pour out. To create a robot that could traverse the moon, I had to take into account the lunar conditions needed to be overcome. The most prominent condition to consider was the regolith that sticks to everything, interfering with machines. All of the mechanics of Apogee, such as the motors, are enclosed so the regolith doesn’t interfere. Based on previous lunar vehicles, such as Surveyor 1, Apogee is made out of aluminum due to its high melting point. This allows the material to accommodate the drastic temperature changes.