The European Rover Challenge comes this weekend to the campus of the Kielce University of Technology. 30 teams are in Poland to participate in the competition, which can be joined either on-site or remotely.
The European Rover Challenge is cast to be the largest international space & robotics competition in Europe. University teams from around the world build their own Mars robots, and then take part in competitions similar to the tasks performed by rovers on the surfaces of Mars and the Moon.
The ERC introduced its hybrid formula in 2021, which allows all willing teams to take part, regardless of which place on Earth they are during the event. Remote control of robots also brings the course of the competition even closer to the real working conditions of NASA or ESA teams.
Weather interfered with the Challenge 2022, but Łukasz Wilczyński, president of the European Space Foundation and main organizer of ERC told Polish Radio Kielce that most of the rover operations could be done before rain set in, and later one of the contests was moved inside.
Participating in this year's 8th edition of ERC are teams among others from Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, India, Egypt and Turkey, as well as Poland.
An exhibition on robotics and space research accompanies the Challenge, along with a programme of debates, lectures and meetings with special guests, focusing on Mars exploration and prospects for colonization of the Red Planet, man’s return to the Moon, its resources and prospective use as a launch platform for distant space missions, and the use of space technologies and satellite data on Earth, in everyday life and to protect our planet.
The winners of the Challenge are to be announced at 4 pm on Sunday, September 11.
Co-organizers of this year’s edition are: the European Space Foundation, Kielce University of Technology and Swietokrzyskie Voivodeship. The role of ERC Host City belongs to the City of Kielce. Partners of the event are: the Polish Space Agency, European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), International Space University (ISU), MathWorks, Polish Space Professionals Association (PSPA), Mars Society Polska, Poznan University of Technology, Kell Ideas (Leo Rover), Kozminski University and Freedom Robotics.
The event is held under the honorary patronage of the European Space Agency, International Astronautical Federation and Polish Space Industry Association.
All debates and lectures accompanying the ERC 2022 are made available live online.
Source: IAR, roverchallenge.eu