Space may be the final frontier but for some Carleton University students it could be just the beginning. A group of engineering students with the Carleton Planetary Robotics Team have built their own version of a Mars rover, capable of helping scientists and maneuvering on the red planet. And now, they’ve won an award, beating out other teams from around the world. Jack Tremblay-Lessard says the club has dubbed it “Eileen” and the mock Mars rover is built to act like the real thing. “We basically try to build her as close as possible to real Mars conditions,” he says. “So, real terrain, real temperature, everything like that.” The autonomous rover can flip a switch, pick up a block and hand it to a person, and even maneuver around obstacles. “We have worked since September last,” explains Mabel Philips, a third-year biomedical and mechanical engineering student. “Building her and starting pretty much from scratch.” Philips says the club builds a new one each year, compounding the knowledge students gain from each version. Tremblay-Lessard says the rover is built to complete simulated Mars missions. “To complete tasks that, on Mars, you wouldn’t be able to send out a human to do, obviously, because of the atmosphere and whatever—type on a keyboard, collect soil. We just don’t actually send her to Mars yet.” And while this rover hasn’t left planet Earth, it has taken off. It earned first place overall at the Canadian International Rover Challenge in Alberta in August. It beat 27 other teams from countries as far as Poland and Mexico. Adam Potera, the team’s manufacturing lead and a third-year mechanical engineering student, says the competition took place in Drumheller, which has rocky-like conditions. “The competitions are situated to kind of simulate Mars,” explains Potera. “Driving over really steep and bumpy terrain. Some crevices that we fall into and then somehow get out.” Potera says being part of the club and working on the rover helped him gain a passion for engineering. “I just showed up and had a ton of fun,” he explains. “This is complete other level. Doing things that makes real changes and really building things. It’s huge.” With Canada in the push for new space exploration, the team members say it’s an exciting time to be studying technology meant for other worlds. “An inherent characteristic of humans is that we’re always seeking more knowledge. So being able to start on that path as a university student is really, really, quite special,” says Philips.
