South Dakota State University brought engineering exhibits, campus research and an evening lecture to the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls on Oct. 2, the university said in a Nov. 3 announcement. The event included public hours from 5 to 7:30 p.m. and a 6 p.m. lecture in the Sweetman Planetarium, according to SDSU.
SDSU said exhibits were set up on Main Avenue, and the event coincided with a fall Open Streets experience held in partnership with Downtown Sioux Falls. The university reported that hundreds of Sioux Falls residents attended.
Among the displays were a robot designed for a NASA competition and a Formula SAE race car built by SDSU students, according to the announcement. SDSU said the robot, named SELENE, was designed to collect lunar soil samples and return them to Earth, and that the university team placed first in the Lunar Sample Return Concept category. A remote-controlled golf cart also offered rides, the university said.
Mechanical engineering professor Todd Letcher’s lecture covered NASA’s Artemis program and research projects at SDSU related to lunar exploration, the announcement said. The talk was the first in a quarterly science and research lecture series developed by SDSU and the Washington Pavilion, according to the university. SDSU said the next lecture was scheduled for Dec. 4, with a focus on natural resources management.
