Students from Czestochowa win second place in Mars rover competition

University Rover Challenge (URC) is a prestigious international competition of Mars rover built by students from all over the world. Students competed on 1-3 June in the American desert in Utah near the Mars base analogue MDRS. The event attracted 36 teams from seven countries. During the competition, rovers built by students had to perform tasks such as taking soil samples for analysis, collecting tools scattered in the field, repairs faulty equipment and climb a difficult terrain elevation.

For the first time since 2010, the winners were a team from the United States: Mars Rover Design Team, representing the Missouri University of Science and Technology. American students ended the competition with the total score of more than 403 points.

Second place went to the Częstochowa University of Technology students, competing as the PCz Rover Team. Their total score was just over 330 points. This is the biggest success of students from Częstochowa in this competition, although Polish teams from Białystok and Rzeszów have won the URC five times.

In the third place in this year\'s competition was the team from American Brigham Young University. BYU Mars Rover scored over 324 points.

Polish teams were in the fourth and fifth places of this year\'s competition. In the fourth place was the team Continuum from the University of Wroclaw, with the total score of over 321 points. Fifth place was taken by the Raptors from the Lodz University of Technology, who scored over 315 points.

Two more Polish teams participated in the competition: University of Warsaw Rover Team (over 219 points) and Project Scorpio from Wroclaw University of Technology (over 171 points).

Teams from Polish universities compete in the URC since 2009. Polish students had their first success in 2011, when the rover Magma2 built at Białystok University of Technology took the top of the podium. Students from Białystok University of Technology won again in 2013 and 2014 with the rovers Hyperion and Hyperion 2.

In 2015, the Legendary Rover Team from Rzeszów University of Technology won the competition for the first time. Third place went to the team Scorpio from Wroclaw University of Technology, and the fourth to the rover #next built by students from Białystok University of Technology. The Legendary Rover Team won again in 2016. In the third place was the team Continuum from the University of Wroclaw.

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