Chennai: Inspired by their seniors' experiences, Reshmaa and Akash of Sathyabama University decided to give NASA's Human Exploration Rover Challenge a shot and they didn't return empty handed. At the Rover building challenge that was held at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Centre, Alabama, US, between April 7 and 9, the team won the Jesco Von Puttkamer Award that recognises the best international team in the challenge.
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"The mandate was to build a rover that would stand the test even on Mars and the moon," said the duo. This year's competition threw at them the challenge of building a rover with non-pneumatic wheels (without air). "We had to use glass fibre composite rods and reinforced plastic with injection moulding to enable friction," said Reshmaa.
Akash said that the entire challenge was physically exhausting. " The wheels in particular were difficult to put together. The heavy composites had to be manually lifted and fitted," he said. " We will re-apply next year and try to secure the first place," said the duo.