Dominican team advances to NASA’s 2026 Human Exploration Rover Challenge

Santo Domingo.- Youth Minister Carlos Valdez welcomed a group of students from the Technological Institute of the Americas (ITLA) who qualified for the 2026 Human Exploration Rover Challenge, one of the most prestigious academic competitions organized by NASA. The delegation was received alongside ITLA Rector Jimmy Rosario Bernard, who highlighted the significance of the achievement for Dominican higher education.

The students made history by qualifying in both competition categories—Human Powered and Remote Controlled—becoming the first Dominican university to do so. Valdez praised the team for elevating the country’s presence in science and technology and pledged institutional support for their participation. Rosario Bernard said the milestone brings international visibility to the Dominican Republic and demonstrates the country’s capacity to contribute to global scientific innovation.

Competing under the name RDX, the multidisciplinary team—made up of students in mechatronics, industrial design, multimedia, and related fields—has designed and built vehicles capable of navigating terrain that simulates planetary surfaces. Team captain Melvin Núñez explained that the project required developing a rover from scratch under strict NASA technical standards and that the group is in the final construction phase after completing design validation. The competition will take place April 9–11, 2026, at the US Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, where university teams from around the world will test their prototypes in space exploration simulations.