Kraków’s AGH Space Systems team won the international Mars rover competition - University Rover Challenge in the United States. The second Polish team - students of the Wrocław University of Science and Technology - took 13th place.
During the three-day competition, the team from Kraków scored 392.76 points, ahead of two teams from the USA: Team Mountaineers (391.80 points) and BYU Mars Rover (374.24).
This is yet another win for the Kraków team. In September 2023, the AGH Space System won the 9th edition of the European Rover Challenge in Kielce. A month earlier, they successfully competed in the Canadian International Rover Challenge 2023.
The University Rover Challenge (URC) is a prestigious international competition of Mars rovers built by students. It takes place at the Mars Desert Research Station, in the Utah desert in the United States. It is organised in cooperation with scientists working in the space sector, including NASA scientists. The competition includes a number of tasks reflecting real challenges faced by rovers sent to Mars.
Thirty-eight teams from 10 countries took part in this year's competition finals: Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Colombia, Japan, India, Mexico, Poland, Turkey and the United States.
Poland was represented by two teams: AGH Space Systems and students of the Wrocław University of Science and Technology with the Scorpio rover.
The URC2024 score table is available here.
Teams from Polish universities have been competing in the University Rover Challenge since 2009 and have achieved numerous successes. The first one was in 2011, when the Magma2 rover built at the Bialystok University of Technology took the top of the podium. (PAP)
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