Annual Human Exploration Rover Challenge: NASA
Three Indian student teams won awards in NASA’s annual Human Exploration Rover Challenge which invites high school and college students to build and test roving vehicles for future missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond at the US Space and Rocket Centre in Huntsville, Alabama.
The competition was hosted by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and it was the 25th year of the NASA’S Rover challenge.
Important Takeaways
- The team from KIET Group of Institutions in Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh), won the “AIAA Neil Armstrong Best Design Award”, which recognises systems best designed to meet the Rover Challenge performance requirements.
- The Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management and Engineering from Mumbai, (Maharashtra) won the “Frank Joe Sexton Memorial Pit Crew Award” for ingenuity and persistence in overcoming problems during the race and they also get “System Safety Challenge Award”.
- A team from Lovely Professional University in Phagwara (Punjab) won the “STEM Engagement Award” presented to the team that best-informed others about rocketry and other space-related topics.
- Nearly 100 teams took part in the competition including US, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, Germany, Mexico, Morocco and Peru.
The International Space Education Institute of Leipzig, Germany, won first place in the high school division and a team from University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez won the college/university division.
