Student team AGH Space Systems from AGH University of Science and Technology (Kraków) and their planetary rover Kalman won the international rover competition in the United States, the University Rover Challenge (URC). The second Polish team with Scorpio rover from Wrocław University of Science and Technology was 13th. During 3-day challenge AGH scored 392.76 points surpassing US teams: Team Mountaineers (391.80 points) and BYU Mars Rover (374.24). AGH have already been victorious in many earlier international competitions. In 2023 they won the European Rover Challenge in Kielce (Poland) and the Canadian International Rover Challenge in Drumheller.
The University Rover Challenge is a prestigious event organized at Mars Desert Research Station in Utah in cooperation with space scientists, including NASA. It consists of various tasks corresponding to real challenges faced by rovers on Mars. This year it was attended by 102 teams from 15 countries around the world, including 38 finalists from 10 countries: Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Colombia, Japan, India, Mexico, Poland, Turkey and USA. Teams from Polish universities have been competing in URC since 2009 and have achieved numerous successes. The first one was in 2011, when Magma2 rover built at Bialystok University of Technology won the first place.
