MUMBAI: IIT-Bombay students are aiming
for the Red Planet which interestingly
almost coincides with the launch of India's
Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) slated for a
lift off in October-November.
They have made a rover— stated to be the
first major project of its kind at IIT-Bombay
—which will help them to design and
develop an advanced vehicle that can be
equipped with payloads and flown in the
next Indian mission to Mars. The cost of the
project which is about Rs 26,000 has been
funded by the IIT Alumni Association .
At a very informal level, ISRO is already
thinking of the second flight to the Red
Planet. The making of the rover is a project
of the IIT-based Mars Society India which
was launched in January 2012 at the Nehru
Centre in Worli. The society's president
Varun Sudarsanan, a third year aerospace
engineering student at IIT, said the rover
would soon be demonstrated at the Powai
campus .
"Our aim was to get familiar with the
electrical and mechanical aspects of a rover
operation; this will also pave the way for
us to participate at the university rover
challenge competition organized by the The
Mars Society in the US in June 2014," he
said.
The prototype rover is 45 cms in length and
breadth with a height of 35 cms and 7 kg
mass. The structure is made of aluminium;
all components were acquired off-the-shelf.
While the rover cannot currently function
autonomously since it is a prototype, it
serves as a test bed. "We control it through
a joy stick. It is powered by a lithium
battery which lasts for 15 to 20 minutes,"
Sudarsanan said. Though a prototype, it
possesses what is known as a "rocker bogey
mechanism" that allows for a check on how
much obstacle height it can negotiate.
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