ERHS graduate goes to NASA for Lunabotics Competition
Tanner at a summer robotics class in 2012. Courtesy photo
By Paige Peters, Elk Rapids News Intern
Right now, Tanner McLean is working on making his own fuel for model rockets. But he’s also made potato and t-shirt cannons, underwater robots, 3D-printed parts for a broken exercise bike, homemade Nerf guns, and miniature models.
The 2022 ERHS graduate has built many things (often from scratch), including robots that competed at NASA’s national Lunabotics competition at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The Lunabotics Challenge brings together student teams from higher education institutions to compete by applying NASA’s Systems Engineering principles to design and construct a prototype off-world construction robot. Systems engineering is a field that focuses on the design, integration, and management of complex projects over their entire life cycle. In the spring 2026 competition, teams were evaluated (among many other things) on how well their robots built a berm out of lunar soil.
While some of the goals of the Lunabotics challenge include providing students with engineering experience and increasing student exposure to NASA’s work, this year’s berm challenge was designed to have students address an obstacle that NASA engineers themselves face.
NASA is currently working on “establishing a sustainable human presence on the Moon.” Beyond the work done by NASA’s Artemis II mission, one of the next steps toward reaching this goal will be shaping lunar soil into berms, which plays a role in “protecting landing sites, supporting power systems, and forming the building blocks of future lunar outposts.”
Students aren’t just learning from NASA in the Lunabotics Challenge; NASA is learning from them.
At Michigan Technological University, students compete in the Lunabotics Challenge through the Multiplanetary Innovation Enterprise Program, colloquially called the “Enterprise.”
Dr. Paul van Susante, the Principal Investigator for the Planetary Surface Technology Development Lab and the faculty advisor for the “Enterprise,” commented on the program’s rigor. “Students really benefit from the competition; especially with multiple years in Enterprise, you get to see them grow over time in technical abilities and leadership abilities.”
There are 53 students on MTU’s Lunabotics team. “That’s a lot,” Dr. van Susante said. “It’s a big team. Students self-organize; I only guide and advise the overall Lunabotics team.”
This year, Tanner was the Mechanical Co-Lead on the Enterprise team and worked on the excavation piece of the robot, which extracted the soil to build the berm. Dr. van Susante shared that Tanner’s role of leading the excavation subteam meant that he was “responsible for how quickly we do excavations, what kinds of excavations we do, and prototyping. The other important piece is that no system works individually. You’re never leading on your own; you’re working with other subteams.”
Tanner led a subteam of nine people who were charged with taking the “back of the napkin” design to a full scoop and hopper excavation system. “Enterprise is basically a company job following the exact same systems engineering process that NASA and other companies use to design products…The environment was very structured; I had to meet four times with leadership and another two to four times a week for the actual work [on the excavation system].”
All this hard work paid off. This spring, Tanner’s team placed 3rd for the Lunabotics Construction award and 4th for their presentation and demonstration.
Tanner attributes the substantial amount of support and experiences he’s had in the past to his current position. Tanner participated in FIRST Robotics from 7th to 12th grade and later mentored the ERHS team while studying in the 2+2 program at NMC. From NMC, he transferred to MTU, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Aerospace Engineering in 2025. Immediately after earning his bachelor’s degree, Tanner entered the accelerated Mechanical Engineering master’s program at MTU, which he attended his graduation ceremony for in spring 2026.
Tanner has always had an interest in engineering, but his interests within the field have shifted over time. Participation in FIRST Robotics resulted in an interest in robotics, of course: “Robotics really helped get me to that point to where I want to take an idea from a blueprint to a finished product. Robotics was a steppingstone [for me]; it helped problem-solving, critical thinking, and interpersonal skills.”
When he studied at NMC, he learned engineering fundamentals from Professor Jay Smith, whom he had in over a dozen classes. From here, his interests shifted from robotics to mechanical and aerospace engineering. “I definitely have a focus on the systems engineering process; taking something from an initial design or best-suited design to start analyzing, fleshing it out, building, testing, redesigning, making a change…It’s very satisfying to see something go from a literal drawing to a finished thing.”
In the fall of 2024, he interned with Thompson Surgical Instruments. During his internship, he developed a machine to evaluate the cleanliness of manufactured parts, enabling the company to conduct the evaluation in-house rather than outsource the tests.
Tanner was also involved with the Rotary and the Elk Rapids Historical Museum. He would attend the Rotary BBQ as a volunteer at the “huge” double boiler cooking beans. In addition to the grant the Rotary provided to the ERHS FIRST Robotics team, Tanner, his father, and family friend Scott Dennis came up with the idea to sell slices of pie at the BBQ. With help from the Village Market, they sold out of 300 sliced pies for two years straight.
At the Elk Rapids Historical Museum, Tanner worked as a docent in the summer. He also did building, exhibit, and IT maintenance.
While these experiences weren’t engineering-related, they provided valuable skills that Tanner took to his role as a Mechanical Co-Lead. “The experiences themselves were about making good conversation, interpersonal skills with problem solving, and being able to say ‘hey, can I help you with this?’ or ‘I need help.’”
Tanner has also received support from his mentor, Dave Lomasney. Dave works at Maclean-Fogg, a company that produces fasteners such as screws, nuts, and bolts. Dave has helped Tanner navigate networking and provide career advice. Tanner’s mom and dad have also played a key role in Tanner’s academic and career experiences, saying “they were always driving me around, supporting me emotionally and financially.” Tanner also pointed out the amount of community support that has contributed to his success – such as scholarships from the Elk Rapids Rotary, Cherryland Electric, and Elk Rapids Historical Society–which enabled him to finish his undergrad debt-free.
When August ends, Tanner plans to begin his search for introductory-level design and analysis roles in aerospace sector.
Right now, Tanner McLean is working on making his own fuel for model rockets. But he’s also made potato and t-shirt cannons, underwater robots, 3D-printed parts for a broken exercise bike, homemade Nerf guns, and miniature models.
The 2022 ERHS graduate has built many things (often from scratch), including robots that competed at NASA’s national Lunabotics competition at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The Lunabotics Challenge brings together student teams from higher education institutions to compete by applying NASA’s Systems Engineering principles to design and construct a prototype off-world construction robot. Systems engineering is a field that focuses on the design, integration, and management of complex projects over their entire life cycle. In the spring 2026 competition, teams were evaluated (among many other things) on how well their robots built a berm out of lunar soil.
While some of the goals of the Lunabotics challenge include providing students with engineering experience and increasing student exposure to NASA’s work, this year’s berm challenge was designed to have students address an obstacle that NASA engineers themselves face.
NASA is currently working on “establishing a sustainable human presence on the Moon.” Beyond the work done by NASA’s Artemis II mission, one of the next steps toward reaching this goal will be shaping lunar soil into berms, which plays a role in “protecting landing sites, supporting power systems, and forming the building blocks of future lunar outposts.”
Students aren’t just learning from NASA in the Lunabotics Challenge; NASA is learning from them.
At Michigan Technological University, students compete in the Lunabotics Challenge through the Multiplanetary Innovation Enterprise Program, colloquially called the “Enterprise.”
Dr. Paul van Susante, the Principal Investigator for the Planetary Surface Technology Development Lab and the faculty advisor for the “Enterprise,” commented on the program’s rigor. “Students really benefit from the competition; especially with multiple years in Enterprise, you get to see them grow over time in technical abilities and leadership abilities.”
There are 53 students on MTU’s Lunabotics team. “That’s a lot,” Dr. van Susante said. “It’s a big team. Students self-organize; I only guide and advise the overall Lunabotics team.”
This year, Tanner was the Mechanical Co-Lead on the Enterprise team and worked on the excavation piece of the robot, which extracted the soil to build the berm. Dr. van Susante shared that Tanner’s role of leading the excavation subteam meant that he was “responsible for how quickly we do excavations, what kinds of excavations we do, and prototyping. The other important piece is that no system works individually. You’re never leading on your own; you’re working with other subteams.”
Tanner led a subteam of nine people who were charged with taking the “back of the napkin” design to a full scoop and hopper excavation system. “Enterprise is basically a company job following the exact same systems engineering process that NASA and other companies use to design products…The environment was very structured; I had to meet four times with leadership and another two to four times a week for the actual work [on the excavation system].”
All this hard work paid off. This spring, Tanner’s team placed 3rd for the Lunabotics Construction award and 4th for their presentation and demonstration.
Tanner attributes the substantial amount of support and experiences he’s had in the past to his current position. Tanner participated in FIRST Robotics from 7th to 12th grade and later mentored the ERHS team while studying in the 2+2 program at NMC. From NMC, he transferred to MTU, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Aerospace Engineering in 2025. Immediately after earning his bachelor’s degree, Tanner entered the accelerated Mechanical Engineering master’s program at MTU, which he attended his graduation ceremony for in spring 2026.
Tanner has always had an interest in engineering, but his interests within the field have shifted over time. Participation in FIRST Robotics resulted in an interest in robotics, of course: “Robotics really helped get me to that point to where I want to take an idea from a blueprint to a finished product. Robotics was a steppingstone [for me]; it helped problem-solving, critical thinking, and interpersonal skills.”
When he studied at NMC, he learned engineering fundamentals from Professor Jay Smith, whom he had in over a dozen classes. From here, his interests shifted from robotics to mechanical and aerospace engineering. “I definitely have a focus on the systems engineering process; taking something from an initial design or best-suited design to start analyzing, fleshing it out, building, testing, redesigning, making a change…It’s very satisfying to see something go from a literal drawing to a finished thing.”
In the fall of 2024, he interned with Thompson Surgical Instruments. During his internship, he developed a machine to evaluate the cleanliness of manufactured parts, enabling the company to conduct the evaluation in-house rather than outsource the tests.
Tanner was also involved with the Rotary and the Elk Rapids Historical Museum. He would attend the Rotary BBQ as a volunteer at the “huge” double boiler cooking beans. In addition to the grant the Rotary provided to the ERHS FIRST Robotics team, Tanner, his father, and family friend Scott Dennis came up with the idea to sell slices of pie at the BBQ. With help from the Village Market, they sold out of 300 sliced pies for two years straight.
At the Elk Rapids Historical Museum, Tanner worked as a docent in the summer. He also did building, exhibit, and IT maintenance.
While these experiences weren’t engineering-related, they provided valuable skills that Tanner took to his role as a Mechanical Co-Lead. “The experiences themselves were about making good conversation, interpersonal skills with problem solving, and being able to say ‘hey, can I help you with this?’ or ‘I need help.’”
Tanner has also received support from his mentor, Dave Lomasney. Dave works at Maclean-Fogg, a company that produces fasteners such as screws, nuts, and bolts. Dave has helped Tanner navigate networking and provide career advice. Tanner’s mom and dad have also played a key role in Tanner’s academic and career experiences, saying “they were always driving me around, supporting me emotionally and financially.” Tanner also pointed out the amount of community support that has contributed to his success – such as scholarships from the Elk Rapids Rotary, Cherryland Electric, and Elk Rapids Historical Society–which enabled him to finish his undergrad debt-free.
When August ends, Tanner plans to begin his search for introductory-level design and analysis roles in aerospace sector.
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