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.
Back to Mission Mars
Common questions
Mission FAQ
Everything students, parents, and schools need before launch, team formation included.
Team formation
Forming your company
Mission Mars teams operate as companies. Elect a CEO, divide the specialisations between your crew, and work the brief the way a real firm would.
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.