By Lily Lewis, Originally published by Michigan Aerospace
The University of Michigan Mars Rover Team (MRover) team took home a ninth place win at this year’s University Rover Challenge (URC) which took place over the weekend of May 29 at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS). The top ten finish was a cause for celebration for the team after a major setback last August, 2023, when the team lost all of their tools and equipment in a fire, forcing them to restart late into their design cycle.
The MRover student team, which works out of the Wilson Student Team Project Center, consists of over 120 students from the Michigan Aerospace Engineering Department and various other departments and majors throughout the University of Michigan community. Each year, the team travels to Hanksville, Utah to compete against teams from around the world at the URC. The competition was launched in 2006, challenging students to design and build a complete rover each school year and compete in realistic Mars missions. This year, MRover competed against 36 other teams in the finals, being one of only 11 teams from the United States.