Rover Challenge
The Rover Challenge is the high point of the Ontario Rover Rally. Designed for pre-existing Rovers, we are challenging teams to pit their designs against each other in a heat based winner-take-all contest.
Our track is designed to emulate the difficulties that would be faced on the Martian surface, from slopes to obstacles, and from loose footing to drops.
Your goal? Complete the track in the minimum possible time. That's it.
But there are some considerations. Speed vs torque, perhaps. Or distance vs incline. Do you take the tool, or leave it and take the penalty? It's up to you.
Design Challenge
In space we gain some freedoms (6 DOF!) but we lose some along the way. Everything we're launching has volume limits, weight limits, material specifications, and at the end of the day the finished product is going to be pretty delicate to boot. And we don't have the freedom of making our designs just appear on the surface (3D printing not withstanding): we have to land it.
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Your challenge is to make a device, shroud, or mechanism to protect our cargo as it descends from orbit. Points will be given for the smallest experienced acceleration. Points will be removed for weight.
Science Challenge
We have landed on Mars, we have explored its heights and its depths. But there are some zones that we have never touched: The Special Regions.
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According to the World Space Congress's Planetary Protection Policy "A Special Region is defined as a region within which terrestrial organisms are likely to propagate, or a region which is interpreted to have a high potential for the existence of extant martian life forms". More precisely, it is a zone with a water activity rating above 0.5.
These Special Regions have the greatest likelihood of hosting life, but are out of bounds due to fear of Earth contamination.
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But what if they weren't?
What if your team was given the opportunity to explore one of these zones? What kind of region would you target? What sample collection method would you use? What kind of analysis would you do to find evidence of past life? And how would you make absolutely certain that there is no contamination?
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You have the chance to redefine Humanity's relationship with the Universe. Good Luck.