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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Inside the 'Lunarena' at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex's Astronaut Hall of Fame, university students are ready to maneuver their remote controlled or autonomous excavators, called lunabots, in about 60 tons of ultra-fine simulated lunar soil, called BP-1. Twenty-two teams from around the country are competing in NASA's first Lunabotics Mining Competition. The competition is an Exploration Systems Mission Directorate project managed by Kennedy's Education Division. The purpose is to engage and retain students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, fields. It also provides a competitive environment that could result in innovative ideas and solutions for NASA's future excavation of the moon. Photo credit: NASA_Dimitri Gerondidakis