How student teams from India are building Mars rovers in their own backyard

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₹15-20 lakh, depending on the complexity of the model," Sidak Singh Grewal, 20, a member of Team Vicharaka and currently a third year undergraduate student at IISc. For comparison, Nasa’s Perseverance rover mission, which landed on Mars in 2021, is projected to cost approximately $3 billion (around ₹25,200 crore). “We constantly try to minimise costs by cutting down on direct procurement and relying on customized and indigenously developed technologies," says Grewal.

Teams use a variety of commercially available materials for the rover’s construction: including aluminium, iron, and steel for the body or chassis. The entire process can take between 6 months and a year. Annirudh KP, 21, team lead at the IIT Bombay Mars Rover Team (MRT-IITB), started in 2013, says teams must operate on a limited budget and time.

“A lot of the 3D printing happens in-house. But going for CNC machining or off-the-shelf products (which can later be assembled) can be expensive," Annirudh says during a video call from Germany, where he’s currently a research intern at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. MRT-IITB’s Tezant rover, developed in 2022-23, is their eighth iteration.

Apart from the technical challenges, the biggest stumbling block for these young teams is securing sponsors. Juggling their studies and the manufacturing phase of a rover is also tricky. “As we are undergraduate students, the other major hurdle is our academics.

Often, the composition dates clash with our exams, affecting our development phase," says Dangare. But their passion for science continues to spur them on. “The biggest inspiration for the team is Isro and IISc itself.