Australian Rover Challenge
Streamed live globally, the fourth annual Australian Rover Challenge (ARCh) took place between 20 – 21 March 2024 as University students from around Australia and the world battled it out with custom-built lunar rovers which they designed and built themselves in a simulated mission to the Moon.
For the first time, the ARCh was held the custom-built EXTERRES Analogue facility at Roseworthy. The facility is a world-class, multi-purpose research facility for application in the space and agriculture sectors allowing the rovers to be challenged to complete highly complex tasks necessary for real-life space exploration.
The 2024 competition saw 10 teams from universities from across Australia, Bangladesh, and Poland making this the largest ARCh so far.
Teams were asked to complete a series of hand-on tasks across the four days including rolling off a lunar lander and accessing nearby equipment; lunar excavation and construction work; prospecting for resources buried among the lunar regolith (Moon dust); and mapping the lunar surface using only autonomous sensing and navigation.
Teams were scored and judged across four tasks by industry experts from ARCh partners Boeing, ELO2, and the Australian Space Agency.
Congratulations to Poland who took out first prize, Monash Nova Rover who came in second, and UQ Space who placed in third. The University of Adelaide Rover team also participated and finished fifth overall.
