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As humankind aims to take its first steps on Mars, rovers are already exploring the mysteries of the 4th planet from the sun. The Australian Rover Challenge shows what talents are hidden in universities - including Poland.

Decades of preparation for a historic breakthrough

It's been almost 30 years since the Sojourner rover landed on the Red Planet. Although the robot was supposed to operate for only 7 sols (Martian days, or just over an Earth week), the mission lasted for 83 sols, during which it traveled about 100 meters.

More rovers exploring atmospheric conditions and soil content have made their way to the Red Planet, including Opportunity, Curiosity, and China's Zhurong, which landed in 2021. However, it will take several more years before the first human steps foot on the neighboring planet.

Australian competition with Polish accent

One of the initiatives supporting NASA's „Moon to Mars” program is the Australian Rover Challenge competition of the University of Adelaide. Their purpose, among others, is to promote talented students and inspire young people to explore space.

Between March 27 and 30, the next edition of the competition was held. The competitors had to perform tasks simulating lunar missions, including sample identification and regolith transport. Among the participants were students from the AGH

The sea transportation still has a negative impact on the environment, but not as much as land and air transportation. Students from the AGH Solar Boat Team are successfully pointing out this problem internationally.

Global transport vs. the planet

One of the trends in 2024 was to reduce the carbon footprint, but transportation still has a significant role in polluting the planet. Land and air transport play the largest share of the pollution.

Thus, sea transportation seems to be more ecological and efficient, given the ability to carry more cargo. Nevertheless, it is not harmless to the environment. It pollutes air and water, leaving behind chemicals and fumes on the water's surface.

Students with a mission

The origins of the AGH Solar Boat Team project date back to the fall of 2015. The fruit of the cooperation between the student club “Eco-Energia” and the Academic Sailing Club was the construction of a boat powered only by solar energy. “This is an engineering challenge for us, but also a manifesto for the long-term sustainability of sea transportation.” - they say.

The first boat, Baśka, debuted in 2017 at the Yacht Club de Monaco and won 5th place overall in Class A. Over the years, the AGH Solar Boat Team repeatedly stood on the podium and built Celka and 2 autonomous boats: R.O.B.U.R. and Barka.

The beginning of the year is a very intense time for off-road model racing enthusiasts. Indoor venues across Europe host events that warm up both spectators and competitors during these cold months. The young Polish racer, Bartek Zalewski, had a fantastic start to the season.

At the end of January, Bartek participated in the largest Central European competition, the European Offroad Series in Daun, Germany. The event was marked by a very high level of competition and incredible twists and turns. In the 2WD Modified Buggy category, Bartek did not qualify for the final, but another Pole, Michał Orłowski, took second place. In 4WD, Michał Orłowski finished second, just ahead of Bartek Zalewski. Notably, Bartek's younger brother, Jan, also participated and won the Stock Truck category.

In Hrotovice, Czech Republic, top European competitors gathered for the Mibo International races. Bartek won the 2WD class and finished third in 4WD. Jan qualified for the main final in 4WD, which is a remarkable achievement.

Bartek then flew to the prestigious Milton Keynes Grand Prix without his brother, who at the same time won two classes at the Hudy Series in Łódź. In Milton Keynes, the competition was very strong. Bartek's third place in 2WD and victory in 4WD

The Academic Aviation Conference "Students (Not) Only About Aviation" was an exciting event for all aviation enthusiasts. It brought together students, doctoral candidates, scientists, industry professionals, and popularizers involved in aviation and astronautics. The OFF-ROAD Unconventional Vehicles Scientific Circle at the Wrocław University of Technology got to show off what they've been working on and talk about their latest design. The students also dug into plans for exploring Mars.

As early as 1964, the American Mariner 4 sent the first images of the Martian surface back to Earth. By the end of the 1970s, many high-resolution photographs had been obtained, only fueling our curiosity.

Humanity returned to the orbit of our cosmic neighbor in the 1990s with the Mars Pathfinder mission and its Sojourner rover, as well as the Mars Global Surveyor. Currently, Mars research is very intensive. Not only the Americans but also the Chinese, Europeans, and even the United Arab Emirates are sending their unmanned missions. The first crewed expeditions are planned for the 2030s.

Mars is a fascinating planet. It has a thin atmosphere that does not protect against space conditions. The lack of a magnetic field allows large amounts of cosmic radiation to reach its surface. However, the presence of large amounts of water inspires us to search for traces of biological material. Huge dormant volcanoes and equally large canyons and craters testify to the planet's turbulent past.

The 15th edition of Robochallenge in Bucharest, Romania, is arguably the largest event of its kind in Europe. 175 teams from 25 countries, 1150 participants, 18 competitions, 964 robots, coverage on the biggest national TV stations, and over 20,000 thrill-seeking visitors – these are the numbers that define the success of this event. What makes robots so fascinating to us?

At first glance, Robochallenge is like many other events. The main attraction is the robot competition. Sumo-style ring battles seem to be the main entertainment for creators of autonomous machines. And it's not just about driving – one such competition is designed for humanoid robots. The robots also compete in other challenges: races, following a line on the track, death combat (the goal is to damage the opponent), finding their way through a maze, overcoming obstacles, slow-motion shows, or even playing football.

If you get tired of watching sports competitions, you can take a closer look at the achievements of other young engineers. A rocket that can climb to a height of several kilometers in just a few seconds and safely return has generated a lot of interest.

Since the first rockets were constructed in the 1940s, humanity has been continuously refining this technology. Higher, farther, more economically, precisely, predictably, and safely. Every year, we send tons of equipment into space – advanced technology that allows us to transmit data, navigate, and explore both space and our planet. Yet, rockets remain the foundation – they enable us to venture where our atmosphere and gravity cannot reach.

How many people does it take to build a rocket? According to Homer Hickam Jr.'s memoir (and the film October Sky), four clever boys are enough. However, these are not the times of the first Soviet space attempts. The PUT Rocketlab student club consists of about 70 people who, among other things, are building their own rocket called Hexa. Hexa, in Silesian dialect, means a witch, so it's no wonder it flies on a broomstick – their custom-made engine code-named Broomstick.

The Poznań witch has achieved significant successes, including a victorious flight in the 30k SRAD Hybrid/Liquid category (a flight to 30,000 feet) during the 2023 Spaceport America Cup in New Mexico. Following this launch, NASA began cooperating with our students. Like true witches, they sit in the seclusion of their laboratories and plot.

Scientific clubs are more than just prestige and fun. Ambitious plans don't materialize on their own. You need to acquire funds, manage them, and account for them, take care of promotion and media relations, organize trips to competitions, and of course, engage in "production," which is what the club was created for. Let's briefly follow a year of work at the AGH Student Research Association Eko-Energia from the AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow.

One of the constructions realized by students from the Eko-Energia is Perła - a high-performance electric car. It is a very innovative and promising research project. No wonder that last year it received two rector's grants and a prestigious grant from the program run by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education called the Initiative of Excellence – Research University.

The group working on Perła visited the Photovoltaic Laboratory of the Polish Academy of Sciences, where young constructors tested composite samples for future lamination of photovoltaic panels. Few people have previously studied the possibility of protecting cells in this way. AGH students believe that this is a promising method for mounting such panels on vehicles.

In wind energy, on the other hand, a rather difficult issue is adapting the power plant to wind blowing at different speeds. The students from Eko-Energia took on this challenge in two ways. Firstly, they created Windy – a widely awarded wind turbine diffuser. For the untrained eye, it's a cone-shaped pipe, but the appropriately designed shape significantly improves the turbine's efficiency.

After numerous successes in recent years, students from Łódź University of Technology once again proved to be at the forefront of building prototype vehicles powered by solar energy. This year, the Lodz Solar Team from the University of Technology in Łódź won the European Vice Championship and the Polish Championship. This success was achieved by the young people at the famous Circuit Zolder in Belgium during the iLumen European Solar Challenge.

This competition is a special event held every two years. Spectators can watch the 24-hour competition teams live. It's worth mentioning that during this time – a full 24 hours – competing teams can only stop twice to recharge. Lodz Solar Team, with their modified Eagle Two car, competed in the demanding Challenger class. Their car was therefore evaluated in terms of energy efficiency, aerodynamics, and technological innovation.

The Łódź students achieved their success thanks to the recent innovations introduced to Eagle Two. They opted for a new driving system with a central, high-efficiency engine. This required redesigning the rear suspension. Together with a new, improved battery, they managed to increase the vehicle's energy efficiency to about 85%. The performance – a top speed of 140 km/h and a range of up to 2400 km – shows that this is not a toy.

Participating in the European Rover Challenge is a significant achievement in itself. Teams taking part in this event consist of students from various fields, primarily engineering. And no wonder – building a Martian rover that meets NASA and ESA requirements is no small feat. In Krakow, at the 10th anniversary of the ERC, Poland was represented, among others, by the OFF-ROAD Unconventional Vehicles Scientific Circle (Wrocław University of Science and Technology) with its latest creation: Scorpio Infinity.

Having presented their design at competitions in Australia, the United States, and Turkey, the Wroclaw students brought it to Krakow for next event. The competition, as always, was fierce, and the tests were extremely demanding. It started with performing specific tasks at a dedicated panel. Let's be honest – inserting an RJ-45 plug into the correct socket using a manipulator is quite a challenge. The Navigation competition involved reaching four checkpoints in a terrain simulating the surface of the Red Planet, followed by skillfully piloting a drone and performing a simulated emergency landing. The drone was created in cooperation with the Academic Aviation Club.

Other practical competitions were reproducing typical scientific activities – among others – geological research with drilling, locating, collecting and weighing samples. Finally, a face-to-face meeting with the judges – a technical and business

The 2024 Ham Radio Technical Gathering took place in Burzenin, as it does every year. This is a great opportunity to talk more about this hobby. What exactly does a ham radio operator do?

Even the list of organizers seems... odd. For example, the sales and payment system are handled by Cezary SP7UKL – that mysterious number instead of a surname is a unique personal identifier on a global scale. So, ham radio operators communicate with colleagues from all over the world, and even further, as there's usually someone on the International Space Station to talk to via radio transmission.

Let's return for a moment to Burzenin itself. Workshops, information exchange, equipment demonstrations, lectures, discussions, and integration, even launching a stratospheric balloon - all this was a very important event for enthusiasts of this field. The event brought together old hands and young (and even the youngest) adepts of the art of radio communication. One might think: what could be so fascinating about talking through walkie-talkies? And yet...

Have you ever dreamed of taking part in perilous off-road races in a buggy? Zooming around a track at top speed, overtaking competitors, and launching off jumps to fly several car lengths? Many a child hidden in us dreams about it. Bartek Zalewski achieves this dream, although from a safe distance, by racing 1:8 scale models.

The second round of the Polish Off-Road Championship took place in Stara Kamienica. On a tight and short astro turf track, Bartek raced both nitro and electric models. Mechanical failures and collisions with competitors deprived our hero of victory, but he finished second in the nitro class and third in the eco class, setting a new track record.

The third round of the Polish Championship, this time in Poznań. The weather disrupted the event. Training and two qualifying rounds could only be started on Saturday at 4 pm. The next day, the timing system failed. Ultimately, the event was concluded using the qualifying results. Bartek Zalewski finished first in the eco class and second in the nitro class.

On the way to the European Championship, the Zalewski’s family team stopped at Horní Jelení for a Czech Championship round. After a fierce and exciting battle, Bartek took second place with his nitro buggy.

Last school year, a robotics competition was held at one of the Catalan high schools. It is fantastic to see how great fun can stimulate learning and development in young minds. Teachers know this and put their hearts and souls into such events.

For the eighth consecutive year, the Narcís Xifra Institute in Girona, a secondary school offering both academic and vocational tracks, organized the automation competition for its students. The event was geared towards students in technical automation classes, and most of them enthusiastically participated. This was evident in the words of 17-year-old participant Javier Rodriguez Gomez:

The competition was very well organized, the machine was simple enough to be completed in one morning, and I felt very comfortable. (...) Overall, I can say that everyone was very happy and would definitely be willing to participate again.

Although it is fun combined with learning, competitions have their requirements. And while it wasn't an easy task, the teaching staff had to determine a winner – this year, however, they decided to award three main prizes (toolkits). The top performers will have the opportunity to compete at higher levels, starting with CatSkills and then SpainSkills.

The Robochallenge competition took place in Romania for the fourteenth time. On November 3-5, 2023, Bucharest became the venue of competition for enthusiasts of broadly defined robotics, who came from 19 countries from all around the world. The teams took part in exciting competitions. There were prizes for the best contestants, as well as plenty of fun during the competition. Not only the participants, but also the audience showed great interest in the event, which - especially after the pandemic break - is a huge success of this year's edition of Robochallenge.

Celebrating technology

For the second time in history, the Robochallenge competition in Romania was held as part of the RoboFest, a festival dedicated to modern technologies such as automation, artificial intelligence and industry 4.0. Nevertheless, the most important theme of this event is robotics, therefore the Robochallenge contest is addressed to enthusiasts of this discipline – mainly to robot constructors and operators.

This year, almost 1,000 competitors and more than 600 robots participated in the contest. 224 teams from countries such as Argentina, Japan, Peru, Thailand and Turkey, as well as from European countries - including Poland – took part in 15 competitions.

On September 5 to 9 a special celebration of young specialists took place in Gdańsk. The European Championships of Young Professionals were organized for the eighth time in history, and for the first time this event was held in Poland. We can be proud not only of Gdańsk, which certainly impressed the participants of the event, but also of our competitors, who achieved great success in the competition, winning numerous medals and distinctions. What a party it was!

Young masters in their specializations

EuroSkills is the largest education and professional skills competition in Europe. Every two years, young professionals from many countries compete to become best of the best. The competition includes various categories such as: construction technology, art and fashion, information and communication technology, manufacturing technology and engineering, transport and logistics, and social services.

Competitors present their technical skills by completing tasks which involve making various projects testing selected competencies. They must strictly follow the rules of competition and keep an eye on the time frame. There were many exciting moments and lots of emotions this year. The participants had to cope with time pressure and strong competition.

Bartek Zalewski was only 5 years old, when his adventure with remote control cars has just begun. Today this sixteen year old boy is the Xray Racing Team driver and despite of his young age, he has already partcipated in many races and championships. His father, Rafał Zalewski, supports him in the competition. Together they make a great team giving their best performances during the races.

Love at first… race

Bartek's fascination with remote control cars has begun the moment he watched his first race. Then there were first independent rides, his own remote control car and finally proffessional classes and competitions for juniors. Over these years, Bartek gained valuable experience and made many contacts in the RC society. But above all, he put a lot of time and work into perfecting his driving technique. Not only Bartek, but also Rafał Zalewski, who became his son’s mechanic, had to learn the secrets of car servicing. That way father and son created an extraordinary duo that achieves great results in national and international competitions, for example in the European and world championships. Bartek races with buggy type cars, both in the summer season, participating on outdoor tracks, and in the winter season, taking part in the indoor competitions.

On May 14, 2023, the finals of the first Polish edition of F1 in Schools were held in Łódź. The FOTON Racing team from Grójec, having defeated 15 other teams, became the winner of the competition and qualified to the world finals, which took place in Singapore. The participation of our representatives in the international F1 in Schools competition is a great lesson of courage and determination.

The beginning of a great adventure

When students of the mathematics and physics class from the Secondary School in Grójec saw the poster advertising the first Polish edition of the F1 in Schools competition, they had no idea that in a few months they would watch the F1 race in Singapore and meet the biggest stars of this races, all while taking part in an extraordinary competition themselves. The beginning of the six boys' adventure in the world of F1 was accidental, but everything that happened later was the result of their hard work, many months of efforts, and, above all, unwavering will and faith in their own abilities. As Marcin Malczewski, the team's Finance Manager, says: "From the very beginning, I believed in the team's success at the Polish finals and I had high hopes for the trip to Singapore." Piotr Kiliańczyk, Manufacturing Leader at FOTON Racing, adds: "We felt very confident at the Polish finals and I think that thanks to this confidence we managed to charm the judges and win the entire competition."

In the first Polish edition of the prestigious F1 in Schools competition, the winning crew turned out to be the FOTON Racing team from the Secondary School of Piotr Skarga in Grójec, whose supervisor was Mr. Radosław Pietrzak, the father of one of the boys.

The Polish edition of F1 in Schools from the inside

Each team taking part in the competition had to not only construct a car, but also find sponsors. The winning team from Grójec also had to additionally raise funds to organize a trip to Singapore, where the international F1 in Schools finals were held. It was not an easy task, because according to the team supervisor, while during the national finals the amount of approx. 10-12 thousand PLN was enough for technical expenses, a stand and advertising gadgets, for the world finals it was necessary to collect over PLN 200,000. zloty. The trip to Singapore was unsure. “The time to raise funds was very short, the boys sent hundreds of emails and held dozens of meetings, but there was very little response.” – Radosław Pietrzak remembers. - "The support from the main sponsors arrived about two weeks before departure to Singapore, leaving little time for preparations." There was no shortage of emotions until the very end, and the boys had so much work to do.

First finals of the F1 in Schools held in Poland

Formula 1 is not only the most popular and prestigious car racing competition, but it is also a whole philosophy and a wide range of initiatives promoting sports, technology and education. One of the most exciting projects from the F1 family is the F1 in Schools competition, which for the first time took place in Poland in 2023. Polish finals turned out to be a great success, although the organisation of such an event was quite a challenge.

What is the F1 in Schools competition?

F1 in Schools is a competition organized under the strict patronage of Formula 1 and its main goal is to promote the STEM idea and to popularize the principal values of the F1 philosophy among children and young people. This unique initiative promotes knowledge in the fields of engineering, mathematics, technology and physics, but competition participants must also show their skills in broadly understood management, design and marketing. The students' task is to construct and present a miniature car that will take part in the race during the finals. The competing teams must acquire sponsors to raise the needed funds and work on an appropriate media and financial strategy. The competition also requires specific organizational preparation and professional equipment, including high-quality design tools, software, a specially constructed race track, as well as the place for the presentation of stands to demonstrate the projects.