After 3 days of incredible competition, the 2024 University Rover Challenge (URC2024) crowned a new champion, AGH Space Systems from AGH University of Krakow in Poland. This was the first championship win by a team from Poland since 2019.
Team Mountaineers, the defending champions from West Virginia University (USA). The BYU Mars Rover team from Brigham Young University (USA) finished in third place for the second consecutive year.
- AGH Space Systems (AGH University of Krakow, Poland) – 392.76 points
- Team Mountaineers (West Virginia University, USA) – 391.80 points
- BYU Mars Rover (Brigham Young University, USA) – 374.24 points
102 teams from 15 countries began the year competing in URC2024. In March, the top 38 teams were invited to compete in the URC2024 Finals, which concluded June 1, 2024 at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in Utah.
For URC, teams of college students design and build the next generation of Mars rover that will one day work alongside astronauts exploring the Red Planet. Teams and their rovers compete in 4 separate missions (Science, Delivery, Equipment Servicing, and Autonomous Navigation Missions). Mission scores are combined with scores from an earlier design review for the final standings.
The final scores for all 38 finalists are available at https://urc.marssociety.org/home/about-urc/urc2024-scores.
URC and the Mars Society would also like to thank our incredible sponsors: ProtoSpace Mfg, the Nissan Advanced Technology Center – Silicon Valley, the KISS Institute for Practical Robotics, MDA Space, and Astrolab for their invaluable support and advice!
