Today the Omega Envoy Project is very excited to announce a strategic partnership that has been in the making for the past year, since the team was formed. The partnership is with the University of Central Florida who has come on board to assist in the development and testing of our lunar rover. The early stages of this partnership may have been evident during the month of July, 2009 when the UCF DARPA Urban Challenge team worked with Omega Envoy to put the Rover 2.0 prototype on the Arctic Expedition at the Mars Society’s Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station at Devon Island. This group and others will play a pivotal role in the continual development of the Omega Envoy lunar rover program. The partnership also includes office and lab facilities at the UCF Research Park, faculty assistance, and funding through the Florida Space Grant Consortium for senior design projects.

A press release for this partnership can be found here.

Now on to more exciting news! Today we are also happy to announce that the Omega Envoy rover naming contest is now open for public voting. We were surprised with the great submissions, and have now narrowed them down to the three finalists. The primary goal of having a contest to name the rover was to allow the public to submit names and in the end allow the public to be the ones to pick the final name. So make your way to our newly renovated website and vote for your favorite rover name!