From roadblocks to results

The Arizona State University Interplanetary Lab isn’t just a workspace, it’s where student curiosity meets cutting-edge capability. As the hands-on training ground of ASU’s Interplanetary Initiative, the lab gives students real-world space systems experience, one mission and one student at a time. Here, students prototype, test, and iterate alongside faculty mentors and industry experts. From vibration tables to vacuum chambers and precision machines, students don’t just learn engineering theory, they live it. 

One student team put this to the test. The Next Level Devils, an interdisciplinary student club of space enthusiasts and engineers affiliated with the Interplanetary Lab, had a team that took on a bold NASA challenge: to design a lunar regolith sampler that could one day be used by astronauts. They called it CUPLE — the Contain Universal Packaging Lunar Excavator. 

What started as a concept would evolve, through trial, teamwork, and lab-driven innovation, into a space-ready prototype. And as the challenge unfolded, the team would come to realize just how critical the Interplanetary Lab’s mentorship, equipment, and collaborative environment would be in bringing CUPLE to life.

At the helm was Andrew Polyakov, an Arizona State University undergraduate majoring in aerospace engineering (astronautics). He led the eleven-person team that included Interplanetary Lab student worker Paulo Gonzalez Soto, a sophomore also studying aerospace engineering, as they navigated a maze of design constraints, tight deadlines, and high-stakes expectations from NASA’s Micro-g NExT program.

With deadlines looming and setbacks mounting, it was the Interplanetary Lab’s culture of open mentorship and hands-on problem-solving that kept the project alive. When the lab’s senior engineer, Joe DuBois discovered team lead Andrew Polyakov and their prototype in disarray, the pressure was on. With the deadline fast approaching, DuBois jumped in to help guide and mentor the project. Together they established the framework they needed for success, pinpointing areas that would cause issues, and rapidly iterated new solutions.

With support from Interplanetary Lab student worker Paulo Gonzalez Soto, the team quickly produced a fully functional 3D-printed prototype. "One of the big things that I helped out with was rapid prototyping, and through 3D printing in our [Interplanetary] Lab, we were able to fix our design and try out new things."

Once key team members completed the lab's orientation and machine training under Gonzalez Soto’s guidance, they were ready to tackle the next hurdle: manufacturing everything themselves. Armed with new technical skills and access to advanced equipment, the team began fabricating a durable metal version of CUPLE for rigorous testing at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Houston, Texas.

The team faced a seemingly impossible challenge: finding a commercial machine shop that could deliver the necessary parts on their tight time and within their available budget. The team hit a wall, until Interplanetary Lab student workers Ella Greetis and Lillian Prigge stepped up. Greetis, a senior studying robotics engineering, and Prigge, a sophmore electrical engineering major and student in the Initiative's Research Scholars Program, would prove instrumental in helping the Next Level Devils move forward.

Prigge had recently brought the lab’s CNC machine back online, and Greetis brought deep fabrication expertise. Together, they proposed a plan: fabricate the parts in-house, using combined knowledge of the lab’s tools and processes.

Despite their new and unproven machine failing in the final minutes of a ten-hour cutting job, the duo didn't give up. Instead, they pivoted to the ASU Chandler Innovation Center, another fabrication shop open to ASU students, staff, and faculty. There, they dedicated an entire weekend to the project, even as shop experts doubted whether it could be completed in time.  But thanks to their determination, and support from the shop’s experts, they delivered the completed parts just in time for the team’s trip to Houston for the competition.

Reflecting on the experience, Prigge shared, "Never give up. Even if it seems like a project can't be accomplished in time for a deadline, keep going, because at the very least you learn along the way. And who knows, maybe you'll be able to pull it off." 

After landing in Houston, the Next Level Devils team carefully assembled their CUPLE sampler, making final adjustments in the hotel room. While testing revealed a few last-minute design hiccups, all of their hard work led to a moment they had been working toward: handing off their creation to be tested by astronauts in NASA’s underwater simulation chamber.

The team was ecstatic. The sampler wasn’t just evaluated; it was actively used by astronauts to assess its effectiveness in collecting lunar regolith in a realistic, simulated lunar environment. It was a full-circle moment that validated months of late nights, revisions, and setbacks.

Looking back on the journey, Gonzalez Soto shared that his favorite moment came at the very end:

“Standing at the gate together was surreal. We started last September barely knowing each other, joining because the challenge stated it was for ‘NASA’ and that sounded cool! Now, months later, we're in another state, after having navigated some tough times and now know each other really well.”

Looking forward, the team is already gearing up to take what they’ve learned into the next NASA challenge this fall.

Incoming and current ASU students are invited to subscribe to the Interplanetary Initiative newsletter to stay informed about exciting news happening at ASU. Students should also join the ASU Space student mailing list for updates and opportunities in space research, lab projects, and events.