HUNTSVILLE, Ala., April 16,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA will celebrate the
30th anniversary of the Human Exploration Rover
Challenge when the competition returns to the U.S. Space &
Rocket Center's Aviation Challenge Course in Huntsville, Alabama, Friday, April 19, and Saturday, April
20. The event is free and open to the public with rover
excursions occurring each day from 7:30 a.m.
to 3 p.m. CDT or until the last rover completes the obstacle
course.
NASA selected 72 student teams in October to begin an
engineering design challenge to build human-powered rovers that
will compete at the course near the agency's Marshall Space Flight
Center.
Media are invited to watch more than 600 students from around
the world attempt to navigate a complex obstacle course by piloting
a human-powered vehicle of their own design and production. Media
interested in attending or setting up interviews should contact
Taylor Goodwin in the Marshall
Office of Communications at 938-210-2891 no later than 2 p.m. Thursday, April 18.
Participating teams represent 42 colleges and universities
and 30 high schools from 24 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and 13 other nations from around
the world. NASA's handbook has complete proposal guidelines
and task challenges.
To conclude the 2024 season, NASA will host an in-person awards
ceremony Saturday, April 20, at
5 p.m. inside the Space Camp
Operations Center at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. NASA and
industry sponsors will present multiple awards highlighting team
successes throughout the past eight-month-long engineering design
project, including awards for best rover design, best pit crew
award, best social media presence, and many other
accomplishments.
Media interested in attending or setting up interviews should
contact Taylor Goodwin in the
Marshall Office of Communications at 938-210-2891 no later than
2 p.m. Thursday, April 18.
About the Challenge
The Human Exploration Rover Challenge tasks high school, college,
and university students around the world to design, build, and test
their lightweight, human-powered rovers on a course simulating
lunar and Martian terrain, all while completing mission-focused
science tasks. Eligible teams compete to be among the top three
finishers in their divisions, and to win multiple awards including
best vehicle design, best rookie team, and more.
The challenge annually draws hundreds of students from around
the world and reflects the goals of NASA's Artemis campaign, which
will land the first woman and first person of color on the
Moon.
The event was launched in 1994 as the NASA Great
Moonbuggy Race – a collegiate competition to commemorate the
25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing. It expanded in
1996 to include high school teams, evolving again in 2014 into the
NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge. Since its inception, more
than 15,000 students have participated – with many former students
now working in the aerospace industry, including with
NASA.
The Human Exploration Rover Challenge is managed by NASA's
Southeast Regional Office of STEM Engagement at Marshall and is one of eight Artemis Student
Challenges. NASA's Office of STEM Engagement uses challenges
and competitions to further the agency's goal of encouraging
students to pursue degrees and careers in science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics.
To learn more about the challenge, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/roverchallenge/home/index.html
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SOURCE NASA