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University Rover Challenge — Sponsor Landscape & Direct-Sponsorship Outreach

Notes

Summary

SC Robotics competes in the Mars Society's University Rover Challenge (URC). This page tracks which sponsors are blanket URC-wide benefits (available to any registered team, not negotiated by SC Robotics) versus sponsors SC Robotics has a direct/negotiated relationship with, plus research into whether the other named 2026 URC sponsors could become direct team sponsors.

URC event-wide sponsor perks (any registered team qualifies, not SC Robotics-specific)

  • ProtoSpace Mfg (aerospace/defense division of Protocase Inc.) — $2,000 manufacturing credit per registered URC team, explicitly does not count against the $22,000 rover budget cap, plus a 50% discount on custom parts beyond that credit. Activate by emailing urc@protospacemfg.com (URC-specific inbox, different from their general info line) once registered for the current URC year, to get assigned a dedicated account manager.
  • SC Robotics has not yet claimed this for URC2026. Unclear whether it's still accessible now that URC2026 finals (May 27–30, 2026) have already passed — the offer's stated eligibility was "once a team is registered," with no explicit expiration date in the announcement, but it was clearly framed as help for that season's build.
  • Follow-up: Google Task set for September 2026 to check URC2027 registration (rules typically drop each September, registration closes ~late October) and email ProtoSpace Mfg once registered.
  • Note: the actual sponsor brand is ProtoSpace Mfg, not the parent "Protocase" name — that's the entity to credit and the one making the offer.
  • Free LIDAR datasets for the MDRS competition site area via equatorstudios.com — free account signup, no application process.
  • URC Student Resume Portal — opt-in resume sharing with URC sponsors who are hiring interns/full-time. Open only to members of a registered URC team. A career perk for individuals, not a team-level benefit.

Other named 2026 URC sponsors — researched for individual/direct team sponsorship potential

None of these three have a public "sponsor our team directly" application process (unlike ProtoSpace Mfg/Altium/SendCutSend). All primarily fund the URC event itself or run broader STEM outreach programs.

  • Astrolab (Venturi Astrolab, Inc.) — Hawthorne, CA. Closest geographically to SC Robotics (Mission Viejo) of the three, ~45 min away. NASA Lunar Terrain Vehicle Services (LTVS) selectee; builds the FLEX lunar rover. No formal team-sponsorship program found, but there's precedent for direct student-project sponsorship through personal industry connections (e.g. sponsored a specific Andrews University senior design project via that school's "Industry Lab," not a public program). Their public contact page (astrolab.space/contact) only lists "Universal Payload Specialists," a customer-facing role for commercial payload delivery, not education/partnerships.
  • Best path: cold outreach via their contact form or LinkedIn, leaning on the SoCal geographic connection and URC participation, asking to be connected with someone about supporting the team directly.
  • Nissan Advanced Technology Center – Silicon Valley (NATC-SV) — Santa Clara, CA. Renewed URC sponsorship for a 3rd consecutive year as of 2026. Their own stated motivation is recruiting/talent-scouting — VP Maarten Sierhuis: "we want participants to feel welcome to reach out and become potential interns or hires." No evidence of a material/financial sponsorship program for individual teams.
  • Best fit: career/internship outreach for team members, not team funding.
  • MDA Space — large space company (TSX:MDA / NYSE:MDA), robotics/satellite/geointelligence, ~4,000 employees across Canada, US, UK. Known STEM sponsorship pattern (Launch Canada presenting sponsor, Mission Control's Rover Driving Academy, Indspire Indigenous Student Scholarship) skews heavily toward Canadian community programs. No public individual-team sponsorship program found.
  • Lowest probability of the three for direct SC Robotics outreach, given their giving pattern is Canada-focused despite having US operations.
  • General URC event-sponsorship inquiries (i.e. companies wanting to sponsor URC itself, not a specific team) go through Kevin Sloan, kevin@marssociety.org, per urc.marssociety.org/sponsorship-opportunities. Not a channel for a team seeking its own sponsor relationship.

Direct/negotiated sponsors SC Robotics already has (cross-reference, distinct from the URC-wide perks above)

  • OSH Cut — contact Brad Gasaway (VP Marketing, bradg@oshcut.com); reusable 50%-off discount code; sent an official logo package directly.
  • SendCutSend — $250 in services via their STEM Sponsorship Program; official brand assets at sendcutsend.com/brand-assets.
  • Altium — sponsorship application in progress as of Aug 2026 (contact: Jackie Skellie, Sponsorship Program Manager), not yet approved.
  • Notion — not actually a sponsorship. It's Notion's self-serve "Notion for Student Orgs" program: any verified student org gets a free Plus plan, no reciprocal recognition expected, no company rep involved. SC Robotics' workspace already has it via some earlier member's application (one approval per org); Tyler's own reapplication in June 2026 was rejected as a duplicate.

Open questions

  • Is the URC2026 ProtoSpace Mfg credit still claimable post-finals, or does it need to wait for URC2027 registration?
  • Who originally submitted SC Robotics' successful Notion for Student Orgs application, in case that person's account matters for continued access?

Sources

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