Teams will be challenged to

Design, build and test a rover to assemble a power supply system for your Martian habitat

Pass through an engineering review process with space sector engineers

Win against other teams from across the UK

We look for people with hands on project experience when recruiting

Andrew Bacon, Thales Alenia Space UK

2020 - 2021

Participants will

Gain experience working within a team on a technical project

Practice skills learned in their studies

Meet experts and recruiters from across the space sector

This competition provides the right skills and experiences they [students] need to get jobs in the industry

Dr Chris Mutlow, Director of RAL Space

About »

The Olympus Rover Trials challenge student teams to design, construct and operate a rover for a habitat construction mission on Mars. Students create a rover concept, trade off performance parameters and pass through a rigorous review process with panels of engineers from the space sector. The competition aims to:

  • Challenge students to perform a complex, systems engineering task of the development of a vehicle to a set of real space mission requirements;
  • Enable students to apply taught technical skills and learn new ones relevant to a job in the space industry in an applicable project environment;
  • Provide students with an opportunity to develop and practice other important and transferable skills, such as teamwork, leadership and project management;
  • Foster interest in the activities of the space sector, especially in space engineering and robotics.

Key Dates

Competition Launch5th October 2020
Entry Deadline + Requirements Freeze31st October 2020
Optional WorkshopsNovember 2020
Preliminary Design Review Deadline20th December 2020
Preliminary Design Review Feedback17th January 2021
Critical Design Review Deadline14th March 2021
Critical Design Review reviewer meetingby 31st March 2021
Close Outstranding RIDsMay 2021
Test Readiness ReviewJune 2021
Competition EventJuly 2021

Rules and Resources »

Rules and requirements document, CAD files, drawings, template documents.

FAQs »

Read the collection of frequenty asked questions.

Contact Us »

Have a question about the competition? Want to enter? Want to sponsor?