NASA SPACE APPS 2026 · INTERPLANETARY SURVIVAL GUIDE: MARTIAN MAP

REDSIGHT

See the Red Planet before you step on it.

A Marswalk mission planner that fuses seven NASA datasets into one living map — and computes the safest, most energy-efficient route between science and survival.

WATCH THE PITCH MISSION BRIEFS

W-01 // THE PROBLEM

One wrong
step.

The first astronauts on Mars will walk terrain no human has ever seen — where a slope past 30°, a boulder field, or a dust front can end a mission. NASA has mapped all of it for fifty years. But the knowledge lives in seven separate archives built for scientists, not for the person inside the suit.

DATA INVENTORY — WHAT EXISTS TODAY

  • MOLA
    Elevation & slopeMGS orbiter laser altimetry, 463 m global
  • CTX
    Surface imageryMRO context camera, 5 m global mosaic
  • HIRISE
    Landing-site detailMRO, 25 cm — Jezero orthomosaic
  • THEMIS
    Rock abundanceMars Odyssey night infrared, 100 m
  • SWIM
    Subsurface iceRadar + neutron ice-consistency composite
  • MARCI
    Dust & weatherMRO daily global maps
  • RAD
    RadiationCuriosity's surface dose, 0.64 mSv/sol

SEVEN MISSIONS. ZERO CREW-FACING MAPS. THAT'S THE GAP.

W-02 // THE CONCEPT

One map.
Three states of a
Marswalk.

Mission planning, hours before the airlock

Toggle the layers. Drop a landing point, mark the science stations, and RedSight computes the full traverse — avoiding crater walls, boulder fields and radiation exposure — with an EVA report for every step: distance, energy, dose, consumables.

  • COST MODEL — JPL MARS 2020 TRAVERSABILITY (ONO 2016)
  • CONSTRAINTS — SLOPE 30° · ROCK CFA 15%
  • OUTPUT — EVA REPORT + ROUTE PROFILE

W-03 // THE SCIENCE

Every pixel
has a citation.

RedSight's route engine is a faithful simplification of the traversability analysis JPL used to select Perseverance's landing site. No invented numbers. Every constant on screen carries its source.

COST MODEL — PER TRAVERSE STEP

blocked if slope ≥ 30° or rock CFA > 15%

cost(step) = d × [ wE·Ê(θ) + wT·(1/v(θ)) + wR·H(cell) ]

  Ê(θ) = m·g·(sinθ + Crr·cosθ) / E_ref
  v    = speed(θ, terrain class)
  H    = a·rock + b·dust τ + c·radiation

USER DIALS: wE ENERGY · wT TIME · wR RISK — PRESETS: FASTEST / SAFEST / GREENEST

CONSTANTS — WITH SOURCES

g3.71 m/s²Mars surface gravity
SLOPE CAPS30° / 20° / 10°hard / bedrock / sand — Ono 2016
ROCK CFA7–15% slow-downOno 2016, M2020 AutoNav
ROVER SPEED152 m/h maxPerseverance spec, JPL
ENERGY35–56 Wh/km classPatel, Univ. of Surrey
POWER110 W MMRTG≈2.5 kWh/sol, JPL
DOSE0.64 mSv/solCuriosity RAD, Hassler 2014
CALIBRATION×0.946 · ×1.38-connectivity · real-route factor

Methodology: Ono et al. 2016 (IEEE Aerospace) & 2018 (AIAA) — Mars 2020 Traversability Tools · Heverly et al. 2013 (J. Field Robotics) · D* Lite, Koenig & Likhachev 2002 · Hassler et al. 2014 (Science).

W-04 // MISSION BRIEFS

Three rehearsals
for the real thing.

  1. B-01

    Jezero Delta

    18.44°N 77.58°E · JEZERO CRATER

    Land on the crater floor, sample the ancient river delta where water once carried biosignatures — and benchmark the route against Perseverance's real track, which drove ~30% farther than the optimal line.

    LAYERS: HIRISE 25 CM · CTX 5 M · MOLA SLOPE · SWIM

    FLAGSHIP
  2. B-02

    Boxwork Ridge

    −4.59°S 137.38°E · MOUNT SHARP, GALE

    Document the boxwork formations Curiosity studied in 2025 — the exact science target named in NASA's own challenge brief — across terrain CTX resolves at five meters.

    LAYERS: CTX 5 M · MOLA SLOPE · CRISM HYDRATED MINERALS

    NASA'S EXAMPLE
  3. B-03

    Ice Road

    ARCADIA PLANITIA · NORTHERN LOWLANDS

    Prospect drill sites over buried water ice — fuel and drinking water for the crew — where SWIM's radar and neutron consistency runs highest, threading between dust corridors MARCI watches daily.

    LAYERS: SWIM ICE · THEMIS ROCKS · MARCI DUST · RAD

    RESOURCE RUN

W-05 // THE PROPOSAL

Read the mission
before you judge it.

REGISTRATION PITCH — 90 S

PITCH VIDEO PUBLISHES WITH REGISTRATION · NOV 10

DOCUMENTS

  • Mission ProposalPDF · full concept, data plan, approach
    LOCKS NOV 12
  • Pitch DeckPPTX · 12 slides, judges' cut
    LOCKS NOV 12
  • Open SourceGitHub · MIT, cited datasets, SI disclosure
    REPOSITORY

EVERYTHING SHIPS WITH THE HACKATHON BUILD · NOV 14–15

W-06 // THE CREW

Six people.
One visor.

  • CREW-01Ali Omar
  • CREW-02Marwan Mesbah
  • CREW-03Yassin Abdallah
  • CREW-04Youssef Nader
  • CREW-05Mohamed Ayman
  • CREW-06Jana Adham

WHO WE ARE

RobEn — the robotics family at AASTMT

Founded in 2013 at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport, RobEn is seven teams strong — underwater ROVs, autonomous UAVs, a race car, media, PR, cybersecurity, and us: the Software & AI team, the people who build RobEn's intelligent systems and its web. 28 achievements and counting, from MATE ROV nationals to Shell Eco-marathon.

roben.club GitHub Instagram LinkedIn
  • SOFTWARE & AI ← US
  • ROV — UNDERWATER
  • UAV — AERIAL
  • RACING TEAM
  • CYBERSECURITY
  • MEDIA
  • PR & MARKETING