A team of UMR engineering students will hit the road here in a few minutes to make a nearly 2,000 mile journey to Santa Maria, Calif., to compete in NASA's Centennial Challenge. That's where the team will put its robot up against seven other entries from the United States and Canada to see which robot can excavate the most "moon dirt."

You might be asking yourselves why this group, the Lunar Miners, has decided to make the 28-hour drive and not fly. It's a good question, but one that's easily answered by looking at their robot.