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Zvamaida Murwira
Senior Reporter
Milestone College in Makoni district, Manicaland Province raised the country’s flag high at the annual Africa Mars Rover Challenge held in South Africa where it won three awards last Friday.
The annual challenge drew 70 teams from 13 countries from across the continent. The Africa Mars Rover Challenge seeks to enhance research and innovation capacity and foster the learning of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics which dovetails with Government’s Education 5.0 aimed at producing goods and services.
Milestone College was the best astronaut support Engineers for Mars category, it also came first overall best in the milestone rovers and second overall best in the Engineers for Mars category.
Participants were drawn from universities, secondary schools, and colleges in Africa and fostered STEM education, encouraged collaboration and team work and encouraged problem-solving and critical thinking skills.
Participants in the Africa Mars Rover Challenge are tasked with designing and building a small, mobile Mars Rover prototype.
The prototype does not need to be space-ready or capable of operating in Mars conditions.
However, it must be wireless controlled and have an independent power source.
It prepares students for careers in robotics, aerospace, engineering, and Artificial Intelligence.
College deputy head, Ms Millet Bonyongwa said she was excited by the achievement.
“We did not expect this milestone, determination and hard work have seen us achieve this feat,” she said.
“We want to thank the Government, for its support and robust education system.”
The Africa Mars Rover Challenge is an annual robotics competition where students from African universities and high schools design, build, and operate Mars rovers to compete in simulated Martian environments.
Some of the countries that participated include Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania.
Online Reporter