The University Rover Challenge (URC) is an annual international competition hosted by the Mars Society for University and College students to complete a given scenario using a rover the team has built.
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The competition is held at the Mars Desert Research Station, outside of Hanksville, Utah. The site was selected by the Mars Society for its geographic similarity to Mars - in addition to being a largely barren desert area, the soil in the area has a chemical composition nearly identical to Martian soil.
The first URC was held on Saturday June 2, 2007 at 7:00 AM MST. The second URC was held on June 5–7, 2008. beginning at 8:00 AM MST. The third URC was held May 28–30, 2009, beginning with an orientation at 11:00 AM MST beginning in the Whispering Sands motel parking lot.
The competition is run under the basic assumption that the rovers being designed are being designed as assistive rovers for a manned mission to mars, and as such, are allowed recharge times between events, and are allowed un-delayed radio communications with the team running the rover.
The most recent year's event also required that the propulsion and power systems of the rover be easily adaptable to Martian conditions, greatly limiting the practicality of using internal combustion engines at the competition.
At the Mars Society's inaugural University Rover Challenge in 2007, in the often Mars-like desert of the American West, competing teams will remotely operate their rovers to remotely deploy a radio repeater and survey a second area for possible signs of life.[1]
At the 2nd event teams were given 4 tasks to complete in the hot desert. Those tasks were:
The events for the third year were very similar to those of the previous year, and consisted of:
This year featured the largest pool of registered teams yet. The tasks were once again similar, but some now with added complexity:
The winning team will receive transportation, lodging and admission for five individuals to present their rover at the Annual International Mars Society Convention, as well as cash prizes.
Both the Penn State and UCLA rover teams experienced technical difficulties that contributed to their low finishes. The Penn State team was forced to withdraw from competition due to the severity of their problems.