Australian Rover Challenge

Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia, is one of the worlds’ most liveable cities. Its vibrant and charming destination offers a unique blend of natural beauty, cultural experiences, and a relaxed lifestyle, and is home to the Australian Space Agency.

Wanting to know more about Adelaide? Visit the South Australian Tourism Commission or Experience Adelaide websites for further information on what to see and do while you're in Adelaide.

Adelaide University’s purpose-built course this year is at the University’s Roseworthy Campus, approximately 60kms north of the city centre, Mudla Wirra Rd, Roseworthy.

The Roseworthy campus is the major centre for South Australia’s animal and veterinary science research and teaching and home to the new Exterres Analogue Facility.

A wide variety of accommodation can be found in Adelaide city, however if staying in Adelaide we recommend staying on the Northern side of the city where you can easily access the Northern Connector Highway (the side of the city towards Roseworthy Campus).

Gawler is the closest town to Roseworthy Campus (approx. 10km away) and offers a limited number of accommodation options.

For more information on accommodation, see below.

The 2026 Australian Rover Challenge marked a return to the Adelaide University’s brand-new Exterres Analogue Facility at Roseworthy Campus. The expansion of the competition saw participants from four countries make their way to South Australia to compete in the challenge.

Overall awards

Well done to all our competing teams and a big congratulations to our winning teams:

1. UQ Space (University of Queensland, Australia)
2. Legendary Rover (Rzeszów University of Technology, Poland)
3. Monash Nova Rover (Monash University, Australia)

Other awards:

• Stellar Progress Award – UTS Rock-e the Rover (University of Technology - Sydney, Australia)
• Best Development Team – Bluesat (University of New South Wales, Australia)
• Best Engineering Design – Monash Nova Rover (Monash University, Australia)
• Best Team Culture Award – Deakin Rover Team (Deakin University, Australia)
• Community Spirit Award - UNSW Robotics and Autonomous Systems (University of New South Wales, Australia)
• Best New Team – RIVAL (Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology, Indonesia)
  

Special thanks to our 2026 sponsors:

• Premier Partners - Caterpillar, Boeing
• Major Partner -  ispace, Roo-ver
• Supporting Partners - SASIC, entX, Interstellar Innovation, Enigmanaut
• Challenge Arena Materials Partner – Heidelberg Materials

Post Landing Task – Sponsored by Roo-ver

Your Rover has just landed on the surface of the Moon. Your team is now required to execute a task list to work towards establishing an in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) outpost. Tasks include: conduct a systems check on the lander and relay any damage to the judges, navigate to and find the location of the Supply Caches while traversing past obstacles, and initiate a start-up protocol.

Space Resources Task – Sponsored by ispace

To demonstrate its ability to conduct foundation services, Rovers are expected to perform in-situ resource identification and processing of icy lunar regolith (extraterrestrial soil) to determine which unexplored sample site may yield the greatest amount of frozen water, and to extracted as much water as possible to support human life-support systems and refuelling of spacecraft.

Construction and Excavation Task – Sponsored by Caterpillar

Your rover is expected to conduct a variety of activities on the lunar surface including the extraction, transport and deposition of dry lunar regolith in an ISRU hopper, as well as performing surface preparations including terrain assessment, shaping and/or debris clearing, and interacting with or deploying artificial structures.

Mapping and Autonomous Task – Sponsored by Boeing

Your rover is required to map the area and traverse autonomously in support of establishing a sustainable, long-duration ISRU base.

Daily action of the 2026 Australian Rover Challenge

The 2025 Australian Rover Challenge marked a return to the University of Adelaide’s brand-new Exterres Analogue Facility at Roseworthy Campus. The expansion of the competition saw participants from four countries make their way to South Australia to compete in the challenge.

Well done to all our competing teams and a big congratulations to our winning teams:

• AGH Space Systems (Kraków, Poland)
• UQ Space (Queensland, Australia)
• Monash Nova Rover (Melbourne, Australia)

Special thanks to our 2025 sponsors:

• Premier Partners Caterpillar, Boeing and ELO2
• Major partner iSpace 
• Supporting partners Australian Space Agency and SASIC

Tasks

The Australian Space Agency Post-Landing Task

Your Rover has just landed on the surface of the Moon. Your team is now required to execute a task list to work towards establishing an in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) outpost. Tasks include: conduct a systems check on the lander and relay any damage to the judges, navigate to and find the location of the Supply Caches while traversing past obstacles and initiate a start-up protocol, download instructions and perform maintenance, connect propellant hoses.

iSpace Space Resources Task

Towards the goal of supporting future astronauts which need breathable oxygen, potable water and construction materials, your rover must begin the evaluation, collection and extraction of critical lunar resources including frozen volatiles like H2O, and metals like Ti and FeO from ilmenite (FeTiO3). To do this, your rover has two primary tasks to perform; 1) in-situ resource prospecting, 2) then excavate and process the target resource to hand to judges. There will be two types of resource deposits your rover must investigate: dry partially magnetic soil representing ilmenite-enriched regolith, and frozen ice-cemented soil representing deposits of frozen volatiles in Persistently Shadowed Regions (PSRs).

ELO2 Excavation & Construction Task

Rovers are expected to scale-up operations and prepare the site for a future human landing by conducting some foundation services which include removing hazards by clearing rocks, excavating and transporting regolith to construct a berm, and constructing a feature of the team's choosing using dust-mitigating pavers brought from Earth

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Boeing Mapping & Autonomous Task

Rovers need to explore a new area given a rudimentary map, perhaps derived from data collected by orbiters. This map will contain a series of landmarks that scientists are interested in imaging in more detail, and the rover will need to navigate to these without human intervention. Then, either autonomously or under operator control, a larger-scale map of the arena will need to be constructed, and the locations of previously unknown landmarks will need to be determined.​​​​​​​

Daily action of the 2025 Australian Rover Challenge

The 2024 Australian Rover Challenge was an exciting new chapter in evolution of the competition, moving to the University of Adelaide’s brand-new Exterres Analogue Facility at Roseworthy. The expansion of the competition saw over 210 participants from three countries making their way to South Australia as well as almost 6,500 daily streams logging-on to watch the competition from all around the world making this the largest ARCh yet. 

Well done to all our competing teams and a big congratulations to our winning teams:

• Projekt Scorpio (Wrocław, Poland)
• Monash Nova Rover (Melbourne, Australia)
• UQ Space (Brisbane, Australia)

The move to the larger arena demonstrated just how challenging mobility, navigation and perception on the lunar surface can really be. Rising to the challenge, teams were ready and able to showcase their rover’s functionality as well as the perseverance and adaptability of their team members.

It was a great pleasure for ARCh to host the teams in 2024 and we were thrilled to see another increase in participant numbers, both in the design rounds and during the final competition days. With 2024 seeing new teams from around Australia and the globe along with growth in the returning teams - the ARCh organising committee is looking forward to seeing what the 2025 competition holds.

Special thanks to our 2024 sponsors:

• Premier Partners Boeing and ELO2
• Major partners iSpace and the Australian Space Agency
• Supporting Partners, SASCIC and Caterpillar
• Event Supporters CSIRO and Mini Mammoth Games

Tasks

The Australian Space Agency Post-Landing Task

Your Rover has just landed on the surface of the Moon. Your team is now required to execute a task list to work towards establishing an in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) outpost. Tasks include: conduct a systems check on the lander and relay any damage to the judges, navigate to and find the location of the Supply Caches while traversing past obstacles and initiate a start-up protocol, download instructions and perform maintenance, connect propellant hoses.

iSpace Space Resources Task

Towards the goal of supporting future astronauts which need breathable oxygen, potable water and construction materials, your rover must begin the evaluation, collection and extraction of critical lunar resources including frozen volatiles like H2O, and metals like Ti and FeO from ilmenite (FeTiO3). To do this, your rover has two primary tasks to perform; 1) in-situ resource prospecting, 2) then excavate and process the target resource to hand to judges. There will be two types of resource deposits your rover must investigate: dry partially magnetic soil representing ilmenite-enriched regolith, and frozen ice-cemented soil representing deposits of frozen volatiles in Persistently Shadowed Regions (PSRs).

​​​​​​​ELO2 Excavation & Construction Task

Rovers are expected to scale-up operations and prepare the site for a future human landing by conducting some foundation services which include removing hazards by clearing rocks, excavating and transporting regolith to construct a berm, and constructing a feature of the team's choosing using dust-mitigating pavers brought from Earth

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Boeing Mapping & Autonomous Task

Rovers need to explore a new area given a rudimentary map, perhaps derived from data collected by orbiters. This map will contain a series of landmarks that scientists are interested in imaging in more detail, and the rover will need to navigate to these without human intervention. Then, either autonomously or under operator control, a larger-scale map of the arena will need to be constructed, and the locations of previously unknown landmarks will need to be determined.

Australian Rover Challenge 2024

Daily action of the 2024 Australian Rover Challenge

What a massive four days of the 2023 Australian Rover Challenge (ARCh)!

This year saw eight teams of over 180 student participants, including the Projekt Scorpio team all the way from Poland, join in the competition!

Well done to our winning teams:

• Monash Nova Rover (Melbourne, Australia)
• Projekt Scorpio (Wrocław, Poland)
• University of Melbourne Rover Team (Melbourne, Australia)

Shout out also to the Adelaide Rover Team for taking home Best Team Culture, and Queensland University of Technology Robotics Club (QUTRC) for scoring Best New Team!

Our favourite part of the ARCh is the camaraderie and community between the team workshop tents, with countless stories of large and small acts of kindness when a critical rover part fails.

It's incredible to see so many new and growing Australian (and international!) teams coming to Adelaide to showcase their capabilities in developing and operating their rovers.

Special thanks to our sponsors:

• Premier partner Boeing
• Major partners ispace and the Australian Space Agency
• Event supporters Defence SA, SASIC and Drone Deploy

If you missed the action, you can still check out the livestream recordings.

Tasks

The Australian Space Agency post-landing task

Your Rover has just landed on the surface of the Moon. Your team is now required to execute a task list to work towards establishing an in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) outpost. Tasks include: conduct a systems check on the lander and relay any damage to the judges, navigate to and find the location of the Supply Caches while traversing past obstacles, and initiate a start-up protocol.

The ispace space resources task

To demonstrate its ability to conduct foundation services, Rovers are expected to  perform in-situ resource identification and processing of icy lunar regolith (extraterrestrial soil) to determine which unexplored sample site may yield the greatest amount of frozen water, and to extracted as much water as possible to support human life-support systems and refuelling of spacecraft.

The construction and excavation task

Your rover is expected to conduct a variety of activities on the lunar surface including the extraction, transport and deposition of dry lunar regolith in an ISRU hopper, as well as performing surface preparations including terrain assessment, shaping and/or debris clearing, and interacting with or deploying artificial structures.

The Boeing mapping and autonomous task

Your rover is required to map the area and traverse autonomously in support of establishing a sustainable, long-duration ISRU base.

Australian Rover Challenge 2023

Daily action of the 2023 Australian Rover Challenge

This year's challenge saw Australian university students building, operating and competing their semi-autonomous rovers in a simulated lunar environment, accomplishing navigation, resource utilisation, and construction tasks while assisted and mentored by international industry and government partners.

The rovers attempted In-situ resource evaluation, performed semi-autonomous tasks and interacted with the environment using a robotic arm. In addition to the physical challenge, students presented their rover designs to industry professionals, academia and Australian Rover Challenge judges. 

After three sunny days on the Maths Lawn at the University of Adelaide's North Terrace camps, the students completed their four challenges while entertaining spectators for the top spot. The results were:

• Winner – Monash University 
• Runner up – University of Melbourne
• Best team culture – UTS

Congratulations to our other participants, University of Adelaide and University of Queensland.

Thank you to all of our student participants and our industry partners and sponsors for such an exciting competition!

After the marking of the Preliminary Design Review, teams were given a score out of 15 Challenge points. The top three teams and their scores are listed below.

• Monash Nova Rover - Monash University 13.6
• RMIT Rover Team - RMIT University 12.0
• Adelaide Rover Team - The University of Adelaide 11.6

After the marking of the System Acceptance Review, teams were given a score out of 25 Challenge points. The top three teams and their scores are listed below.

• Monash Nova Rover - Monash University 22.3
• Adelaide Rover Team - University of Adelaide 19.3
• UQ Space - University of Queensland 18.4

The top three teams after the reporting deliverables out of 40 Challenge points are listed below.

• Monash Nova Rover - Monash University 35.9
• Adelaide Rover Team - University of Adelaide 30.9
• UQ Space - University of Queensland 28.7

Australian Rover Challenge 2022

Information recording sessions

The challenge was for students to design, build and operate their semi-autonomous rover in a simulated lunar environment. Put to the test, the rovers had to conduct In-situ resource evaluation, perform semi-autonomous tasks and interact with the environment using a robotic arm. In addition to the physical challenge, students presented their rover designs to industry professionals, academia and Australian Rover Challenge judges.

After two (mostly) sunny days on the Maths Lawn at the University of Adelaide's North Terrace camps, the students completed their four challenges while entertaining spectators for the top spot. The results were:

• 1st place – Monash University 
• 2nd place – RMIT
• 3rd place – The University of Adelaide 

We also asked each team to select their Most Valuable Team member – this award recognises the individual’s contribution to the team and going over and above to help the team during the lead up to and during the competition. The following were selected:

• Will De La Rue – Monash University 
• Dave Tucker – RMIT 
• Abigail Sparnon – The University of Adelaide 

Thank you to all of our student participants and our industry partners and sponsors for such an exciting competition!

The Australian Rover Challenge partnered with the South Australian Space Industry Centre (SASIC) and was supported by the Australian Space Agency and the SmartSAT CRC.

Australian Rover Challenge 2021