About the Competition

Our aim is to challenge students to demonstrate a fully-functional foundation services rover capable of remote operation, autonomy, manipulation and ISRU, in line with Australia’s commitment to support NASA’s Moon to Mars program through the Trailblazer mission.

Inspiring the next generation space workforce

The ARCh aims to address the four Strategic Space Pillars outlined in the Australian Space Agency 2019 - 2028 Civil Space Strategy by inspiring the next generation of the Australian space workforce to learn-by-doing through a hands-on simulated mission to the Moon and Mars.

The ARCh showcases Australian student talent and technological capability in space activities. The primary goals and vision of the Australian Rover Challenge are to:

• Create new university student teams by providing a platform for new, multidisciplinary robotics groups to grow across Australia and to compete in simulated mission-based scenarios for planetary rovers.
• Engage with industry by directly partnering with business within the Australian space industry to create a pipeline for student employment and to discuss unique opportunities and innovative solutions in space technology and science.
• Grow the Australian space industry by establishing and fostering collaboration between Australian tertiary education institutions, Australian and international industry, and special interest groups with a focus on space exploration, robotics, planetary resources, autonomy and remote communications.
• Support Australian space research by providing an opportunity for undergraduate and post-graduate research on robotics, space resources, communications and autonomy to be showcased under simulated mission conditions.

2025 key dates

Dates may be adjusted at the discretion of the judges. In this case, an announcement will be made to all registered teams in advance, and a new version of this document with updated dates will be published.