ARC '26 Missions
Story
On the desolate Martian surface, a journey begins at the landing area. The rover’s lens sweeps the dust to capture the scientific secrets of the silent terrain, reading the planet's history like the ancient chronicles of Isaac Asimov’s galactic empire. Analyzing subsurface samples, the science mission invites teams to explore their hypotheses.
As the Sun vanishes behind the Martian horizon, the rover emerges from the airlock into a night that feels like one of Jules Verne’s extraordinary journeys into the unknown. It navigates the deepening shadows to locate the astronaut. Following a shimmering fuel trail through the darkness, the rover seals the rocket’s fuel leak and restores the oxygen flow. After documenting the success with a photograph, it retreats to the airlock.
Science Mission
Night Mission
Story
Activating its autonomous mode, the rover must make its own decisions similar to Stanley Kubrick’s HAL 9000 computer. The rover finds the peak to set up the antenna to maintain communication. In the dust of Shackleton Crater, the rover identifies the ilmenite-rich basalt. It plunges into the lava tube to investigate before navigating the terrain back to the base.
Beyond the individual sensor tasks, the rovers operate with high-precision synchronization to align mirrors and install antennas in a way that resembles the Christopher Nolan docking sequence. All actions are time-critical and position-sensitive. The rovers collaborate to repair pipes and reset instrument panels to restore the station’s systems. By clearing the blocked lava tube together, they are turning the challenges into a survival operation on the Moon.
Autonomous Mission
Collaboration Mission
Side Missions
Challenge to Shine
Time limit: 10 minutes with each judge
​
This challenge is a presentation challenge of the ideal rover design of the team to experts in their fields. The presentations made in this challenge are evaluated separately and will not be included in the general challenge score. The fields of the experts are science, autonomous driving and control, robotic arms, driving in diicult terrain, team structure, etc. Team members will have 10 minutes to present their approach to the stated fields during this challenging process to the judges in dierent rooms. The presentations will be evaluated, and the judges will choose the winner of each field. Prizes will be given to the winning teams. Each field can only have one winner.
Side-Challenges
During challenge days, there will be fun activities that are not a part of the ARC missions. These challenges are a set of games and mostly require rover-teammate and multi-rover interaction. All of the winners will get special awards. The ARC Committee has the right to make changes to fun challenges until the competition day. They are planned to be held on the last day of the competition.