Polish students with another victory in the competition of Mars rovers

University Rover Challenge (URC) is a prestigious international competitions of Mars rovers built by students. The event is held in the American desert in Utah, near Mars base analogue MDRS.

The winners of this year\'s competition were the Legendary Rover Team from Rzeszów University of Technology. This is yet another success of this team in the competition, because in 2014 they stood on the third step of the podium. The URC organizers reported that the winning rover Legendary III scored 460 points out of 500 possible. Second team on the podium - BYU Mars Rover from the American Brigham Young University - were 89 points behind the Poles.

"We had a few failures. On the day before the competition out rover caught - the cables literally lit up. We were working late every day. We did everything we could to make sure the rover was fully ready for each task. We fought to the end. We are very tired now, but also very happy" - students from Rzeszów posted on Facebook after the competition,.

The third-place winners were the Scorpio team from Wrocław University of Technology. Their rover Scorpio IV scored 364 points. In 2013, students from Wrocław took second place in the competition. In 2104 years they won the European edition of the competition, the European Rover Challenge held in Poland.

"After the award ceremony, we went with judges to a steep slope near the Mars Desert Research Station" - said Team leader Szymon Dzwończyk. "The judges said that if our vehicle would be able make the climb, they would move the next year’s Terrain Traversing Task (moving in a rocky, steep terrain) to that location. Climbing a 45 degrees slope is very hard even for a person, and our rover majestically climbed al the way to the top. Our success really surprised the judges. And since they made a promise, we can expect that the next editions of the competition will be even more difficult" - said Dzwończyk.

Just behind the podium, in fourth place, was the rover #next built by students from Białystok University of Technology. URC three-time winners from Białystok scored 344 points this time. Sixth place went to the PCz Rover Team from Częstochowa University of Technology, and eighth to the rover ARES built by members of the Students\' Space Club at Warsaw University of Technology. All Polish teams, who started in the competition, were in the top ten.

"Polish team’s victory in this competition is slowly becoming a new tradition" - Mars Society Polska commented on Facebook. According to the URC regulations there are five competitions, of which are field tasks, which involve the investigation of geology in the area and the search for signs of life. The rover must also replace human in equipment maintenance, deliver packages to the designated location and overcome obstacles.

44 teams from eight countries signed up for this year\'s finals. 23 teams from six countries qualified. In the desert in the US state of Utah, Polish students competed with seven teams from the United States, five teams from India, four teams from Canada, one team from Egypt and one from Bangladesh.

Teams from Polish universities take part in the competition 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 year with the rovers Hyperion and Hyperion 2.

PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland

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