Stratford’s Seth Niescier is among several Queen’s University students hoping to win a NASA competition.
Q-HERC, short for Queens Human Exploration Rover Challenge Team, is competing in the Human Exploration Rover Challenge.
Student teams must design and build human-powered or remote-controlled rovers capable of moving through lunar terrain while completing tasks.
Niescier, technical lead for the team’s drivetrain systems, said the team is building three rovers (one primary, two secondary), with the primary to perform the obstacle course while transporting the other rovers.
The secondary rovers will then collect air, water, and soil samples and test them along the course.
“We did the design portion last semester as part of our fourth-year capstone course, and it consisted of four months of design iteration, coming up with ideas of what we can do to narrow down the design of the three rovers,” said Niescier.
He said it hasn’t quite set in yet that he and his colleagues are going to another country, representing Canada with their rover design.
According to team co-founder Brandon Lewis, Q-HERC is the only Canadian university team to compete in the challenge.
Lewis said the team was formed on a whim in 2024 after he and his friends saw a chance to compete in a different NASA competition.
“We formed an initial draft of what kind of project we were proposing, we sent it off to NASA and crossed our fingers. NASA got back to us and said we like your guy’s idea, let’s have you at the competition,” said Lewis.
“Last year we started off in the Human Power category, where you create a tandem bike and you have to race it around lunar terrain, go over different obstacles, take on different challenges and tasks along the way.”
The team won awards for innovation and manufacturing expertise that year.
The team hopes to showcase what they can do and win the competition.
The event runs April 9 to 11 at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
