AAUB-Voyagers Win First Place at 2025 Mars Autonomous Rover Rally

AAUB-Voyagers from the Aviation & Aerospace University Bangladesh (AAUB) have achieved a major international milestone by securing First Place at the 2025 International Mars Autonomous Rover Rally.
The global competition was sponsored by the NASA Texas Space Grant Consortium and the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University, and executed by the ASTRO Lab under the leadership of Dr. Gregory E. Chamitoff, former NASA astronaut and Director of the ASTRO Lab.

STEMX365, founded by NASA Astrobee and SPHERES scientist Mizanul H. Chowdhury, served as one of the prize sponsors and led international student engagement, with a strong focus on Bangladesh. SimDynamX also contributed as a prize sponsor and leads commercialization efforts for Space Teams PRO.

A Challenge Modeled After Real Martian Missions

The Mars Autonomous Rover Rally required participants to develop advanced rover code capable of navigating rugged Martian terrain derived from real NASA datasets. Teams designed algorithms to detect obstacles, select safe routes, optimize travel time, and complete scientific sampling within a NASA-used simulation environment. The challenge was structured to reflect real-world robotic exploration conditions.

AAUB-Voyagers Deliver the Fastest Performance

According to the official results, AAUB-Voyagers completed the mission with the fastest time among all global participants, finishing in 29 minutes 43 seconds, while the second team recorded 35 minutes 53 seconds. Their rover successfully crossed mission waypoints, avoided obstacles, and completed soil-sampling tasks with high efficiency. With this outstanding performance, the team secured First Prize and topped the global leaderboard.

Bangladesh achieved multiple top positions in the competition. Team Durbar from KUET secured second place, while CUET Mongolchari and RUET Exover ranked fifth and sixth, respectively.

Public Release of Rover Run Videos

Organizers have confirmed that videos of the winning rover runs will be published on the official Space Teams PRO YouTube channel. AAUB-Voyagers have also released their run and documentation for public viewing through their official link.

A Milestone for Bangladesh’s STEM Advancement

This victory is a significant achievement for Bangladesh’s expanding STEM community. It highlights the country’s rising talent in global space robotics and stands as an inspiration for young innovators pursuing careers in science and engineering.

STEMX365 continues to promote world-class STEM education in Bangladesh by organizing a wide range of international programs. These include the Asian Try Zero-G, Asian Herb in Space, Global Space Challenge, and the Kibo Robot Programming initiatives, which provide students with unprecedented access to global space education and research opportunities.