October 21 – November 24, 2024
An incoming lunar lander has crashed and you have precious little time to mobilize all available lunar surface assets to find and rescue the crew. Your Mission – Design the best AI Mission Manager algorithms to conduct Search & Rescue (SAR) operations on the Moon.
Test and Experience your Mission in a high-fidelity lunar operations simulation using Space Teams PRO.
- University-level design/coding competition
- teams of 1-10 undergraduate/graduate students
- $10,000 in prizes awarded for the Top Teams
Space Teams University is limited to the first 30 qualified teams that apply!
Team Qualifications
- Texas undergraduate and/or graduate students in STEAM fields
- Complete team application form on the Texas Space Grant website
- A designated Team Leader/point of contact
- A designated Faculty Advisor/point of contact
Team Registration
Approved Teams will receive ‘Getting Started’ info and access to Space Teams
Click here to access the Team Registration form.
Important Dates
| October 21st | Application Deadline |
| October 31st | Single Robot Search Submission |
| November 10th | Obstacle Search Submission |
| November 24th | Full Scale Search Submission |
| December 4th | Winners Announced |
Design Objectives
- You begin with a high-fidelity Space Teams simulation that includes a habitat, crew, robots, rovers, and other assets that are already on the lunar south pole near Shackleton Crater performing lunar exploration and mining activities.
- When the lander crashes, the AI Mission Manager that you design/code (python) jumps into action and directs all assets to conduct search and rescue operations. Robots, rovers, and crew have various capabilities, limitations, resource requirements, actuators, and sensors (such as lights, cameras, antennas, lidar, IMUs, wheels, tools) that your Mission Manager can control via commands.
- The terrain is challenging with obstacles, slopes, and permanently shadowed regions.
- Instructions and example code are provided to help you interface your search and rescue code/algorithms with the sensor data and commands within Space Teams.
Design Platform
Space Teams PRO – provides a complete modeling and simulation environment of the entire solar system, including the Martian surface. Integrates models and algorithms into a VR mission simulation. Participants receive a free account.