The fifth Anatolian Rover Challenge (ARC), held this year at METU, continues as a platform showcasing the capabilities of unmanned ground vehicles used in planetary exploration. Teams compete in stages such as autonomous driving, scientific exploration and night missions across Moon and Mars simulation fields.
ARC General Coordinator Utku Hatipoğlu said the competition was launched to develop Türkiye’s space community and contribute to the country’s 2028 Moon mission. Hatipoğlu said the event, which is attended by teams from the United Kingdom, Mexico, Germany, Bangladesh, India, Czechia, Poland and Türkiye, is being organized in partnership with the Turkish Space Agency (TUA), TÜBİTAK UZAY, METU and METU Technopolis, with Fergani Space and Baykar as its main sponsors.
Drawing attention to the competition’s scientific outputs, Hatipoğlu said, “We are creating an academic pool by recording the vehicles developed by the competitors and the missions they carry out. We are building an archive that can be evaluated both by us and within the scope of Türkiye’s 2028 Moon mission. We also encourage our competitors to take up roles in the sector.”
Distinctive missions in Moon and Mars simulations
Hatipoğlu said ARC is one of the few competitions of its kind in the world and features original scientific scenarios. “Competitions held elsewhere in the world generally used only Mars fields. As ARC, we included a Moon field in the competition for the first time. Our students carry out autonomous, science, collaboration and night missions in these areas,” Hatipoğlu said, explaining the missions as follows:
- During the autonomous mission, the vehicles move through code without any external intervention.
- During the science mission, teams develop a hypothesis and conduct analyses such as searching for water or signs of life in the Mars field.
- During the night mission, the ambient lights are switched off and the teams’ robotic arms are tested in dark space conditions.
- During the collaboration mission on the Moon field, all teams enter the field simultaneously and carry out shared mechanical responsibilities.
Bilge Arıkca, who is participating in the competition on behalf of the METU Rover Team, said the exploration-focused unmanned ground vehicle they developed has a robotic arm specially designed for autonomous missions. Arıkca said they collect and analyze soil samples using the vehicle’s drilling system, adding that they did not expect to win first place this year because of some setbacks, but that the competition offers university students a major hands-on learning experience.
Dawid Adamiak of Poland’s Legendary Rover Team said they had participated in the event before. “We are here to test our new vehicle. We know the field and the competitive environment very well. Our goal is to finish the event in first place,” he said.
In competitions without a time limit, teams that complete their mission early move directly to the next one, while requests for additional time are decided by the judging panel. Throughout the competition, teams undergo tests of the Surface Exploration Vehicle Satellite Communications Protocol (RSCP) module in the tent areas. As part of the “Flare Time” mission, teams are evaluated on driving over difficult terrain, material selection, control-panel manipulation and team structure.
The event will conclude with an evaluation meeting and awards ceremony on August 1.
