Sponsored by FOSTER: STAR Dresden wins 2nd place in international Mars rover competition

The FOSTER-funded student working group Raumfahrt STAR Dresden e.V. has achieved outstanding success at this year's European Rover Challenge (ERC) 2025 in Krakow. Among participants from all over the world, the team secured 2nd place in the overall competition and also won the Best Performance Awards in the Science Sampling and Science Exploration categories.

The ERC is one of the world's most important student competitions in the field of robotic space technologies. Students develop autonomous Mars rovers and demonstrate their capabilities in practical scenarios - from terrain navigation to sampling and scientific analysis.

"We are incredibly proud of our achievement. The second place shows that our innovations and commitment are at the highest level in an international comparison. The awards for our scientific tasks in particular underline the quality of our interdisciplinary work," explains Gregor Mokansky, Project Manager.

The awards for Science Sampling and Science Exploration recognize the Dresden rover's outstanding ability to take precise rock and soil samples and carry out comprehensive analyses - key skills for future missions to Mars.

© STAR Dresden e.V.

The success at the ERC 2025 confirms the continuous work of the STAR Dresden team, which has already achieved several top performances in recent years. With this result, the group has once again positioned itself in the top international group of rover competitions.

STAR Dresden e.V. is a young and ambitious student initiative that was founded in spring 2018. With the vision of establishing a permanent platform for those interested in space travel, dedicated students work on interdisciplinary projects in the fields of rover, satellite and rocket technology, high-altitude research and atmospheric experiments.

The FOSTER team congratulates all those involved on this outstanding success of excellent student research at the TUD.