The team Project Altair has won the ‘Scientists of the Future’ award at the International Rover Challenge 2024. The team consists of students from the Islamic University of Technology (IUT), Bangladesh. This year, the annual event was organized by the Space Robotics Society (SPROS). The final round was held at the PSG Institute of Technology, Tamil Nadu, India. It took place between January 24 and 29. 40 teams from India, Bangladesh, and Russia competed in the competition. The competition consisted of six different types of missions. The award ‘Scientists of the Future’ was given to the highest-scoring team in the ‘Astrobiology Expedition’ mission.
Project Altair scored the highest in the Astrobiology Expedition mission. In this mission, Project Altair collected samples from multiple sites on the simulation Marsyard. According to the team, their assignment involved needing to store collected samples, while the rest was used for analysis. After completing the task, they had to present their mission planning to the judges. Both the physical task and the presentation carried marks for this mission. The teams were evaluated based on their performance during the physical task and the presentation. Only two Bangladeshi teams made it to the finals this year. The other team was KUET’s Team Durbar.