Krakow, 25.05.2023

European Rover Challenge with the most significant international representation in the history

26 May 2023

The registration of the university teams for this year's European Rover Challenge concluded with great success. The ERC 2023 will feature 88 university teams from Canada, Japan, Great Britain, Switzerland, India, Poland, Italy, Turkey, and Mexico. It means that teams from five continents have joined the competition - 54 to experience in person the world's largest track mapping the surface of the Red Planet, 34 to participate online in a remote formula. All teams are now beginning their journey to the finals of the competition. The first step will be submitting and evaluating the rovers' technical documentation.

Applications from different locations prove that the European Rover Challenge is now the largest planetary robotics competition in the world. Eighty-eight teams from 22 countries entered the competition, including 48 from Europe, 30 from Asia, five from North America, three from Africa, and two from South America. No robotics competition held worldwide mobilized such a diverse international representation as ERC2023. The decision of the university teams from all over the world to compete in the ERC proves the high standard and leading position concerning other robotics events that were later created based on the European Space Foundation project.

The desire of the robotics teams to participate in ERC2023 is boosted by the fact that starting this year, ERC will implement a certification process provided by space industry professionals. As a result, team members will be able to receive a formal document certifying their knowledge and experience. Like other certificates from the space industry, the ERC Certificate will become a formal document proving the finalists’ development of technology and their dedication to the project. Obtaining the ERC Certificate will significantly strengthen their position in the recruitment process, as the candidate gains credible confirmation of their experience, supported by the authority of the ERC Jury.

This year's edition of #ERC2023 will be held again at Kielce University of Technology on September 15-17. At the most anticipated space-robotic event of the year, in addition to competitions based on actual missions of the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA. ERC visitors will also experience an inspiration zone filled with attractions for space, robotics, and science enthusiasts.

The competition will be conducted in two formulas: ON-SITE, in which robots constructed by the university teams compete on a specially designed Marsyard, and REMOTE, in which competitors from their universities will remotely control a robot physically moving around a track prepared by the competition organizer.

The list of qualified teams can be found here: https://roverchallenge.eu/en/teams-2023/

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About ERC
The European Rover Challenge is held under the patronage of the European Space Agency ESA and the Polish Space Agency. For years, the event has also been supported by the presence of NASA, ESA & German Space Agency DLR Decision Makers, astronauts, industrial entities: EUSPA, International Space University, The Mars Society, Explore Mars, Austrian Space Forum, Thales Alenia Space, GMV, Planet Labs and SENER. This year's edition is organized by the European Space Foundation, a member of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF). Co-organizers of this year’s edition are: the European Space Foundation, Kielce University of Technology and Swietokrzyskie Voivodeship. The role of the Host City of the event belongs to the City of Kielce. The project is co-financed by the "Social Responsibility of Science" program of the Polish Minister of Education and Science.

All information about the event can be found on the website: www.roverchallenge.eu

Maciek Myśliwiec
ERC Press Office
m.mysliwiec@roverchallenge.eu
+48 508 23 24 25