Student perspective and lessons learned from participating in the European Rover Challenge 2021

Abstract

The European Rover Challenge (ERC) is a competition where multiple teams from all around the world must face the technical, logistical, scientific and managerial difficulties of designing, building and operating a rover capable of performing a myriad of different tasks in a Mars analogue terrain (also known as Mars Yard). The competition, held in Kielce, Poland and organized by the Kielce University of Technology in collaboration with the European Space Foundation, regional governments, the European Space Agency, the Mars Society and other honorary patrons showcases each team’s creativity, innovation, drive and passion to an expecting audience, serves as an entry point to complex large-scale engineering projects for students from all backgrounds, supplying them with essential soft skills often overlooked during regular university education and connects like-minded individuals from different countries, encouraging international communication and collaboration in the aerospace industry. The authors of this paper participated in last year’s competition, ERC2021, and achieved 10th position. In this paper the insider perspective from first-time ERC participants will be discussed, including all the steps made to apply and qualify, the issues faced along the way, the lessons learned and the final experience of the on-site trials.