The MIT Autonomous Pathfinding for Lunar Exploration (MAPLE) team, led by PhD student Annika Thomas, received the 2nd place award in the final round of the NASA / JHU APL Lunar Autonomy Challenge. Team members hailed from multiple DLCs and included: Annika Thomas, MechE, team lead; Aleksander Garbuz,; Cormac O’Neill , MechE; Dami Thomas; Luke Anger; Robaire Galliath, SDM; Course 16 undergraduate student Trevor Johst ’27; and advisor George Lordos. The challenge consisted of a six-month competition for U.S. college and university student teams to virtually map and explore the surface at a future potential Artemis landing site using a digital twin of NASA’s In-Situ Resource Utilization Pilot Excavator (IPEx). The team’s software agent autonomously navigated the digital IPEx in the simulated lunar environment, identifying obstacles and realistically managing its power levels.
Learn more via the JHU APL and NASA stories below.
JHU APL
NASA
