Taprobane 1.0

The First Mars Rover of Sri Lanka

By Kaveendri Rathnayake


SEDS Sri Lanka, a student based national and international organization mainly focused on the exploration and development of space brought the glory to the motherland by its very recent project Taprobane 1.0 which participated in European Rover Challenge (ERC) 2019.
European Rover Challenge (ERC) , The annual international Martian robots competition is one of the biggest robotics and space events in the world, co-organized by the European Space Foundation, Mars Society Polska, Starachowice Special Economic Zone and the Kielce University of Technology. As for the 6th consective year ERC 2019 commenced with 56 team from 16 countries all around the world representing 6 continents.
For the first time in world history SEDS Sri Lanka participated in this competition introducing Taprobane 1.0 , the very first rover from Sri Lanka. This project was a united effort of SEDS members of government and private universities who are keen on aviation and aerospace industry. Total estimated cost was four million and the rover was designed to face the challenges such that drive terrain, sample testing, drilling, arm performing specific tasks and communication with ground station. Taprobane 1.0 was capable to enter into final 40 out of 56 through the technical report progress. Though there were financial issues Taprobane 1.0 achieved the 29th place in ERC 2019 solely from technical reports.

When Neil Armstrong took his first step on the moon his first words were ' That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind'. Similarly Taprobane 1.0 , the first Mars rover of Sri Lanka can be considered as a giant leap for Sri Lankan space industry. So this is just the beginning. We wish SEDS Sri Lanka all the success for future projects. 

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"TAPROBANE" - The First Mars Rover of Sri Lanka