Emirates Mars Mission ‎A UAEU Team Wins Third Place In The “Planet X ‎Exploration Challenge” ‎

The United Arab Emirates University team won the third ‎place in the ” Planet X Challenge” competition, which was ‎organized by the (Emirates Mars Mission in partnership ‎with the Dubai Airshow. The UAEU team consists of  4‎students: Alia Mohammad Fairouz from the College of ‎Information Technology, Mahra Al Muqbali from the ‎College of Engineering, Raya Saeed Al Khateri, and Jawaher ‎Rashid Al Nuaimi from the College of Science.‎

The team participated in competitions and challenges by ‎accomplishing five tasks set to explore the planet, from ‎designing an UAV with a 3D printing system, and making a ‎presentation on how it fits into the atmosphere of the ‎planet and carrying out the assigned tasks on “Planet X”.  ‎These tasks include transporting a box with samples from ‎the planet and landing them on the “Heli Pad”. In the ‎second stage of the competition, the UAEU team designed a ‎‎“robot” using Ev3-kit technology, and created additional ‎accessories to carry out specific tasks on the planet, ‎including moving and loading rocks on “Planet X” and ‎many other tasks.‎

The UAEU team and competitors from the participating ‎universities had to build an unmanned ground vehicle to ‎study the surface of Planet X and find a sample collection ‎site using the Lego Mindstorms EV3 according to different ‎programming levels between high school and university ‎students.‎

All robots must have sensors and engines, and teams have ‎five minutes to complete a pilot simulation task without ‎any support or assistance.‎

The second challenge is to design an unmanned aerial ‎vehicle to carry out exploration missions, using CAD Fusion ‎‎360 model program, to design and print the aircraft in a 3D ‎manner, in addition to sharing a technical presentation on ‎its design.‎

The Emirates Mars Mission, through the “Planet X ‎Exploration Challenge” aims to inspire and motivate young ‎people’s capabilities in space science, technology, ‎engineering and mathematics. The multidisciplinary ‎competition provides opportunities for young people to ‎engage in an interesting experience to build a mission to ‎discover a new planet, during a two-month period dedicated ‎to designing and programming robots for space exploration, ‎in order to contribute to the country’s scientific progress in ‎the fields of space and aviation.‎