The entries are now in for the Aurora student design
competition: a call to graduate and undergraduate teams
from universities within Europe and Canada to come up
with ideas for the robotic and human exploration of the
Moon, Mars and asteroids.

Altogether 54 project outlines have been received from
universities in Austria, Canada, Finland, France,
Germany, Ireland, Italy Portugal, Romania, Russia,
Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and the UK. The majority of
entries fall under the heading of surface robotics,
with a close second coming under new enabling
technologies, that is, ideas for new technology to
enable the robotic or human exploration of planets and
asteroids. However, entries were received in all the
categories making the distribution of project proposals
fairly balanced.

What happens now?

According to Piero Messina, who is in charge of the
contest, “All the entries received are of a high
standard. Only one project, although interesting, was
not considered relevant to the scope of the competition.
We have notified all those who entered and the teams
now have until 30 July to submit the final project”.

The top three projects in each category will be invited
to attend the Aurora Academia Workshop scheduled for 8
and 9 September and which will probably be hosted by
the University of Catalunya in Barcelona. There the
teams will present their project proposals to an
audience of experts and the final winners will be
announced.

Further information regarding the competition,
including a list of the final prizes, will be sent
to the teams and will also be posted on the Aurora
website under the FAQ link. Teams can also email any
enquiries to the following address:
students4aurora@e…

Related news

* Calling all students and universities
http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEM5KU1A6BD_Expanding_0.html

More information

* Student design contest
http://ravel.esrin.esa.it/docs/edu/Aurora/AURORA.pdf

* Student design contest — FAQs
http://www.esa.int/export/SPECIALS/Aurora/SEM8CL2A6BD_0.html

* ESA Education & Outreach
http://www.esa.int/export/esaMI/Education/

* Aurora Programme
http://www.esa.int/export/SPECIALS/Aurora/index.html

IMAGE CAPTION:
[http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEM1329YFDD_Expanding_1.html]
Hypothetical Mars habitat designed by Austrian
university students in 2002 at a Space Architecture
Workshop.

This project has been developed by students of Prof.
Helmut Richter during space architecture workshops
a Hochbau 2 (HB2) – the Institute for Design and
Building Construction of the University of Technology
Vienna (UTV).

Credits: Team red – Hochbau 2