Astral Axiom

The rounds

1. 01

   The Misfit

   • 2 delegates
   • Non-elimination. All teams continue

   A jar of hidden cards is placed in front of you. Each team draws one and keeps it hidden. Every card holds a physics concept, and one of them is the misfit. Teams sit in a circle and question each other about their concepts: characteristics, applications, real-life examples, conceptual and mechanical scenarios. Identify the misfit while keeping your own concept from being exposed. Secret voting closes the round.

   • Format: concept-based discussion and identification.
2. 02

   Emergency Protocol

   • 2 to 3 delegates
   • Elimination. The top 25% of teams advance

   Delegates become an emergency engineering team whose job is to bring the Apollo 13 crew home safely. Interconnected practical challenges follow the real mission. You are given a formula sheet, mission data and basic equipment, but you have to work out which concept or formula each challenge needs. Completing one gives you the information needed for the next.

   • Stage 1, Power Failure: find the fault in a damaged spacecraft power circuit, calculate the electrical quantities and fix it.
   • Stage 2, Damaged Water Tank: determine the density of the reference system. The result becomes mission data later.
   • Stage 3, Resource Management: use the electrical data from Stage 1 to decide which systems stay operational on limited power, then configure the circuit.
   • Stage 4, Emergency Deployment: use the density from Stage 2 and the result of Stage 3 to find the target position, then adjust a pendulum so its motion reaches it.
3. 03

   Bonus: Laser Labyrinth

   • No cap
   • Non-elimination bonus round

   A laser sits at one end of a board and a target at the other, with blocks forming obstacles along the path. Using plane, concave and convex mirrors together with measurements, angles and geometry, teams calculate and build a path for the laser to reach the target. The laser is only switched on during the opening observation and the final test.

   • Format: optical pathfinding and geometry.
4. 04

   Eighth Wonder of the World

   • 3 delegates
   • Final round. The top two teams take Winner and Runner-Up

   Teams receive limited materials and design and build a bridge across a fixed gap. It is then tested for maximum load, stability, material efficiency and deflection. Before building, teams make a basic design and predict how it will perform. Judges may introduce unexpected engineering constraints mid-construction, which you have to absorb without extra materials. Afterwards you present the design and explain the physics behind your structural choices.

   • Format: structural design, construction and testing.