Space Concordia Robotics Division (Concordia University)

Space Concordia publishes a page-level description of every subsystem, which makes it the most completely described rover among the less-documented teams in this group. The description covers a six-wheel triple-rocker chassis, a six-axis arm, an on-board spectrometer and a named multicopter, A.R.E.S. The scored record is thinner: a 2019 finals, then 24^th in 2023 and 29^th in 2026, with autonomy at zero in all three. The distance between the description and the score sheet is the lesson.

Identity and results

Space Concordia is based at Concordia University in Montréal and works in five subdivisions: mechanical, electrical, software, drone and science S-SCRB-SITE. It registered in all five seasons from 2022 to 2026 and appears in the 2023 and 2026 score sheets; the 2019 result is in the archived tables S-URC23-SCORES S-URC26-SCORES S-URC-HISTRESULTS. Tier C is the census label for the two scored finals in the 2022–2026 window; the tier rule is defined on the census page.

The 2019 row is a collapsed result: science 10, delivery 10 and every other mission at zero S-URC-HISTRESULTS. The 2023 total improved to 162.51 on the strength of science at 60.9 S-URC23-SCORES. The 2026 total of 172.01 is the best of the three, but it came with Delivery and Autonomy at zero and Equipment Servicing at 34.74, almost seven times the 2023 figure of 5 S-URC26-SCORES.

Three registrations produced no score-sheet row: 2022, 2024 and 2025 S-URC22-SCORES S-URC24-SCORES S-URC25-SCORES. Review films exist for 2024 and 2025 on the team channel, so the missing rows are not missing submissions S-SCRB-YT. The review score is stable across 2023 and 2026, at 86.61 and 84.27. The written review looks repeatable while mission execution does not.

Rover generations

2019 and 2023: unnamed generations. No rover name is published for either finals entry. The team states that a platform has “spanned over 15 years”, which is a lineage claim rather than a description of one machine S-SCRB-SITE.

DEIMOS (2025–2026). The current rover, named for Dynamic Exploration & Inspection Mobile Operations System. The 2026 page describes it as having “2 seasons of development and ready to take on a 3^rd in 2026” S-SCRB-SITE. It produced the 2026 finals result; whether it also ran in 2025 cannot be confirmed, because the 2025 score sheet has no Concordia row.

Subsystems

Mobility. A “6 wheel triple rocker” drivetrain with “compliant 3D printed wheels” S-SCRB-SITE. A triple rocker is a rocker-bogie variant with a third pivot per side; the team states the arrangement but not its geometry, wheel diameter or drive motors.

Arm and end-effectors. A six-axis arm and a “complex scientific payload box” built by the mechanical subdivision S-SCRB-SITE. Reach, payload, actuators and end effectors are not published.

Science. Candidate sites are ranked “based on their probability to have hosted water based on a geological analysis”, then the chosen soil is examined by an on-board spectrometer with “a suite of pre-loaded tests” S-SCRB-SITE. The instrument type, spectral range and detector are not published.

Autonomy. Ubuntu and ROS 2 Humble, with a stated scope covering “autonomous navigation and inverse kinematics to object recognition, movement simulation, and teleoperation” S-SCRB-SITE. Autonomy scored zero in 2019, 2023 and 2026 S-URC-HISTRESULTS S-URC23-SCORES S-URC26-SCORES.

Electrical and design workflow. KiCad boards, a design “deeply rooted in the STM32 ecosystem”, and custom as well as industry protocols on microcontrollers S-SCRB-SITE. SolidWorks is used for design, ANSYS for simulation and stress work, and the university makerspace or 3D printing for manufacture S-SCRB-SITE. Battery chemistry, capacity and bus voltage are not published.

Drone. A.R.E.S., the Aerial Reconnaissance and Exploration System, a multicopter with an “ultralight frame” and ArduPilot firmware, intended to extend the rover’s range and to “physically transport objects” S-SCRB-SITE. Mass, endurance and autonomy level are not published.

Mission performance

2019, 34^th of 36. SAR 84.08, science 10, delivery 10, and equipment and autonomy at zero S-URC-HISTRESULTS. A rover reached the field and did not execute.

2023, 24^th of 31. Science 60.9 was the only working mission; delivery 10, equipment 5, autonomy 0 S-URC23-SCORES.

2026, 29^th of 36. Science 53, equipment 34.74, delivery 0, autonomy 0 S-URC26-SCORES. The 2026 field medians were 18 in delivery, 25 in equipment and 21 in autonomy, by arithmetic over the 36 score rows; Concordia was above the median in one mission S-URC26-SCORES.

The 2026 review score of 84.27 is essentially unchanged from 86.61 in 2023. The team documents consistently and executes inconsistently, which is the pattern this record supports.

Lessons for a first build

• A described rover is not a tested one. The site describes five subsystems in more detail than most teams in this group, and autonomy scored zero in three finals. A first build should schedule a field test for every claimed subsystem and record the result.
• Reaching the field is a separate engineering problem. Three of five registered seasons ended before the score sheet. A team that cannot reliably ship a rover, a submission and a travel plan cannot convert hardware into points.
• Delivery is the cheapest mission to lose. Delivery has never exceeded 10 points, and 2026 scored zero against a field median of 18. A working delivery run is a smaller engineering problem than autonomy and moves the total more reliably.
• A named platform preserves memory. The team claims a platform lineage of more than 15 years. That continuity is worth keeping, provided the design record is published with it.
• Rank candidate science sites before sampling. The geological pre-screening step makes a fixed instrument budget count, and it is the most transferable process in the record.

What remains uncertain

Why autonomy scored zero in 2019, 2023 and 2026 with a stated ROS 2 Humble stack is the highest-value unknown about the team. Mass, wheel diameter, drive and arm actuators, spectrometer type, battery, radio and on-board computer are not published, and the GitHub organisation holds spacecraft and rocketry projects rather than rover code S-SCRB-GH. Why 2022, 2024 and 2025 ended before the score sheet is not stated, despite registrations and review films. Whether DEIMOS ran in 2025, and how much of the platform changed for 2026, cannot be confirmed. The drone’s mass, endurance and flight performance are not published.

Team sources

• Space Concordia Robotics Division, the team page with the five subdivisions, DEIMOS and the drone.
• 2026 URC SAR film, the primary video for the 2026 rover.
• Space Concordia Robotics on YouTube, review films from 2019 to 2026.
• SpaceConcordia on GitHub, the organisation’s public projects, which cover spacecraft and rocketry rather than the rover.