Rovers compete in Space Resources Challenge

Wheeled, tracked and walking rovers competed to survey a shadowy analogue of the polar lunar surface for useable resources during the first field test of the ESA-ESRIC Space Resources Challenge. Some 12 teams from across Europe and Canada took part in the field test in the Netherlands, with five winners going on to the next phase of the contest. The Space Resources Challenge – supported by ESA and the European Space Resources Innovation Centre (ESRIC) in Luxembourg – asked European (and Canadian) researchers and institutions to develop and demonstrate a system of one or more vehicles capable of prospecting resources on the Moon in the near future.