LOGAN – The University Rover Challenge (URC) by the Mars Society is a robotic competition for university level students that challenges teams to design and build a rover that would be of use to early Mars explorers.
Utah State University’s Mars Rover Team, which earlier earned an invitation to compete in the challenge, is on-site this week for the competition which concludes Saturday at the Mars Desert Research Station in Hanksville, Utah.
The site was chosen for its similarity to Mars: it’s a largely barren desert area and the soil there has a chemical composition much like Martian soil.
The USU team advisor, Amanda Olsen, said this is a major accomplishment since it is the first time a USU team will be represented in person. USU was first invited to URC in 2020 but the pandemic kept them home.
Among the 114 teams registered across 15 countries, USU was was one of 38 selected.
This week’s event includes four challenges: the delivery mission, the science mission, the autonomous mission and an equipment servicing mission. But ultimately the rover must be able to traverse rugged terrain while using the arm to pick up an object or flip a switch.
There are 12 students on the USU team, which includes senior capstone students and club members. Other schools have between 50 and 100 members.