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A new world
beyond Earth
Student teams form their own companies to design and model a colony on Mars for 650 colonists, competing to win the contract from the Interplanetary Development Corporation (IDC).
Begin the missionAbout the mission
Mission Mars puts your team inside a real client brief. You research, design, and pitch exactly as a company would for a paying client, because that is the job you are training for, long before you get the title.
Your team takes on a real client brief (RFP), researches it, designs a response, and presents it. That is the same cycle that drives most careers: build something, then convince someone to buy it. Along the way you will manage deadlines, divide labour, and keep a team moving when opinions clash. No worksheet teaches that.
By 2035, the IDC had grown out of the private aerospace firms supporting Earth's first lunar bases. Profitable lunar mining, refuelling services, and a spotless safety record made it the industry’s authority on off-world infrastructure development. After proof-of-concept landings on Mars in 2050, it turned to its next challenge: a permanent colony on Mars. The year is now 2088, and the call for proposals is open.
Discover IDC01 Mission Index 45.0000° N / 137.0000° E
Join a select crew of young explorers on a STEM mission that challenges you to think like a scientist, build like an engineer, and solve like a mission specialist. Mars is waiting.
The brief comes from the Interplanetary Development Corporation: design, build, and operate a colony for 500 permanent residents and up to 150 transient guests (a total design load of 650 people) that is self-sufficient, defensible, and commercially viable within a 10 years time frame.
The programme
Meet your crew. Learn the mission. Prepare for Mars.
Explore the planet. Study its environment. Ask big questions.
Design solutions. Build prototypes. Test your ideas.
Plan the mission. Work as a team. Solve real scenarios.
Present your mission. Showcase your work. Become mission ready.
Training modules
Every mission needs explorers who can think, build, and survive. Each module provides a full briefing of its own. Open one to start training.
Who it's for
School-age explorers who want to build something real, not fill in another worksheet.
Parents looking for a programme that develops engineering thinking, teamwork, confidence and potential career pathways.
Educators who want a structured, hands-on STEM experience with a genuine showcase at the end. Register your school’s interest.
No prior engineering experience required. Curiosity, focus and willingness to learn are crucial for your success.
Common questions
Who can take part, how teams are formed, what is provided, and how the competition is judged.
Students aged 13 to 17 can participate. Mission Mars develops skills through guided, hands-on participation, so no prior engineering experience is required. Curiosity, focus and willingness to learn are crucial for your success.
Students form company-style teams, elect a CEO to coordinate the project, and assign tasks by specialisation. Final team formation details are shared with registered families and schools ahead of the programme.
Between 10 and 12 students per company, including the elected leader. You set your exact crew size when you register your team.
In most cases, yes. Teams usually form around existing friend groups or classes. Schools registering several teams may balance numbers across cohorts, and your supervising adult will confirm the arrangement for your group.
A one-metre hexagonal modelling board, a mission handbook and project log, a pen drive preloaded with technical guidelines, physical and online workshops, and access to shared tools and build areas. The full materials brief is on the Modelling Mars page.
Full school uniform for the presentation, plus your laptop, pen drive, up-cycled materials, research documentation, and essential stationery (pencils, rulers, notebooks, artistic supplies, and so on). Check the material restrictions before adding anything unusual.
Parents and teachers may encourage and supervise, but Mission Mars must be a student-led project in its entirety. The design, proposal, model, and presentation must remain the students’ own work.
The Interplanetary Development Corporation's Request for Proposal sets the full brief: habitats, resource extraction, energy, farming, transport, communications, automation, data systems, spacesuits, community, and commercial viability, plus presentation rules and judging criteria. The full document will be released to confirmed registered teams only.
Yes, AI is permitted for document editing, graphics, and research only. All usage of AI must be cited in all proposals and graphical presentations.
An expert panel representing the IDC reviews a 10-minute presentation, 5 minutes of questions, and a 5-minute model walkthrough, then awards the contract against the criteria set out in the RFP. Full details are on the Awards page.
Penalties apply for late submissions and for failing to follow the guidelines. Any team caught editing its proposal or model after submission is disqualified outright. The full list is on the Rules page.
Your supervising adult is the first point of contact for day-to-day questions. You can also reach us on WhatsApp at 012 996 1510, and a group for participants will be set up before the programme starts. Details will be sent to the registered teams.
The school will advise all participants on the timing and venues for this programme. Registered teams are notified first, along with the full mission schedule.
Registration portal
Register your crew as a company. Nominate a team leader, list your members, and name the adult supervising the build. We will contact you with dates, fees, and the mission briefing.
Form your companyName the team, elect a leader, and assemble the crew.
Receive the mission briefWe share the RFP, schedule, and judging criteria.
Prepare for launchMeet the other companies and start the challenge.
Registration runs on its own page, so your team can fill it out without losing this one. Have your company name, crew list, and a supervising adult's details ready.
Bring it to your students
Tell us who you are and we will send the programme pack, the requirements, and the dates we can offer you.
