United States - April 12, 2025 Great Sand Dunes, Colorado – Students from across Colorado gathered on Saturday, April 12, 2025, for the annual Colorado Robotics Challenge. The event is sponsored each April by NASA and the state’s colleges and universities. Student teams use engineering, physics, and geometry to build their own mini-rovers. They test these rovers on an obstacle course set in the sand, simulating the conditions scientists face while exploring Mars. This year’s event took place by permit at the edge of the Dunes Parking area, outside the wilderness boundary of Great Sand Dunes National Park. Motorized equipment is not allowed within the wilderness area, so all activity remains outside that protected zone.