Analog spacesuits come with certain challenges, which the participants were asked to address: passive thermal regulation, anti-fogging helmet designs, and dust mitigation. The participants created prototypes which were presented and tested in Wadi Rum.

Participants in this competition designed a rover and ISRU payload and the finalists built prototypes of their rovers, which were field tested in Wadi Rum.

Team Alpha consisted of two members, Eman Qasem Abu Zeitoun, a 17 year-old high school student, and Salam Abu Al Hayja’a, a 23 year-old Mechanical Engineering student at the Jordan University of Science and Technology in Irbid. One of their creative solutions included the use of thermoelectric generator (TEG) modules in order to regulate the temperature inside the suit by using the emitted body heat of the astronaut to sustainably generate additional power.

Team Field Hawk consisted of three members: Abdullah Abu-Elayyan, Sief Addeen AlShalabi, and Juhayna Al-Qatamin. All three team members are Tafila Technical University students/alumni specializing in various engineering disciplines. Team Field Hawk’s proposed ISRU payload included a robotic arm with a drill and a suction unit for sample collection and storage. Their rover also contained solar panels to sustainably generate power to recharge the rover’s battery.