Gujarat Team Selected For NASA’s Human Exploration Rover Challenge 2023

Gujarat Team Selected For NASA Exploration Rover Competition 2023

Come April 2023, and a team from Gujarat of school and diploma engineering students will reach National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The Gujarat team will be among the 61 teams from across the globe selected by NASA to participate in its Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC)-2023. The Gujarat team consists of students from Prayatna Charitable Trust in Ahmedabad.
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The team includes six mentors from Gujarat and two diploma engineering students from Vadali in Sabarkantha and Kadi in Mehsana, apart from 8 other students from other Indian states as members. A total of 11 teams from India have been shortlisted for the challenge in two categories: high school and college level teams. NASA’s website mentions that the primary objective of the Human Exploration Challenge is for student teams to design, develop, build and test human-powered rovers capable of traversing challenging terrain and a task tool for completion of various mission tasks.

One of the mentors in the project, Dhruv Saidava, a design and innovation expert, said that they formed the trust to work with and mentor students interested in the area of work. “I previously worked with companies like Intel as technical mentor and trained school students and teachers in India. This is how I came in touch with students interested in the subject and formed an online group called ‘Tinkering India’ to offer mentorship to those interested,” Saidava said.

They also submitted a proposal last year to participate in the challenge, but did not qualify. “We submitted a detailed document about the technical and theoretical part of making rovers. But the real task will start now as we need to make the rover before we visit NASA centre next year,” said Saidava, who has a degree in civil engineering from Silver Oak College and Masters in Social Work from Ganpat University.

Ansh Patel, one of the two state students hailing from Moharkampa village near Vadali in Sabarkantha, said he came in touch with activity of the Prayatna trust after the mentors visited his school. “I am excited to be part of the team as this is going to give a practical exposure in making a real rover. I am in the Fabrication and Testing responsibility team. Apart from learning many new things while working on the project, we are excited to visit NASA,” said Patel, who is pursuing Diploma in Computer Engineering from a college in Gandhinagar.

Gujarat Team Selected For NASA Exploration Rover Competition 2023 Team comprising students from different states for more Robotics news and updates follow robotics india on instagram and facebook.