An out-of-this-world championship

The 2017 S&T Mars Rover

How does a team go from worst to first in a matter of just a few years? Missouri S&T’s Mars Rover Design Team, which won the 2017 University Rover Challenge and finished first in the U.S. in the 2018 competition, focused on testing, testing, testing. 

“We created a detailed rover test plan including system verification, acceptance testing and task simulations in the months leading up to the competition,” says Cameron Shilko, a 2018 graduate and CEO of the 2017 team. “All of this led to a very refined machine and an experienced crew to send to the University Rover Challenge.”

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