YMRD The Only NGO Selected For NASA Rover Challenge 2024 (Image: YMRD Facebook Page)
Young Mind Research and Development (YMRD) organisation from New Delhi has become the only NGO to be selected for the NASA Rover Challenge in the entire world. The YMRD’s team Kaizel of 6 young and vibrant minds has been selected to embark on a trailblazing journey to showcase their talent.
YMRD informed that the team Kaizel, which got selected along with 6 other teams for the 2024 NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC 2024), has been dedicatedly working for the past 3 months with the support of M3M Foundation. The team Kaizel comprises students from various educational institutions across India and will compete against 72 teams worldwide in this rigorous competition.
The US Rocket and Space Center in Alabama will host the HERC 2024 on April 19 and 20, 2024. Students in high school, college, and university are eligible to take part. An online review of the design was done by NASA officials in November last year.
The other teams to compete for the HERC 2024 are – Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Goa Campus; Candor International School, Bengaluru; Kanakia International School, Mumbai; KIET Group of Institutes; Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh; Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai.
NASA Human Rover Challenge 2024
NASA Human Rover Challenge presents students with the challenge of conceptualising, constructing, and testing lightweight human-powered rovers. These rovers will carry out mission-specific scientific objectives while navigating a track that mimics the surface of the Moon and Mars. This competition is in line with the NASA Artemis initiative, which seeks to place the first woman and person of color on the moon, and it intends to promote research and development of new technologies for upcoming space missions.
To compete, two students—one of whom must be female—must navigate a half-mile course made up of asteroid debris, rocks, erosion carpets, crevasses, and an old streambed using their student-designed rover. Before the vehicle is delivered to the US Space and Rocket Centre (USSRC) in advance of the competition, students and their mentors will test the rover one more time.
