HSM ARIES / THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE ROVER
Harsha Vardhan Raju Gottimukkala
Team Lead LEAP-One
- Team Leadership
- Software & Autonomy
- Scientific Payload
- Mission Resources & Outreach
On the team
Harsha takes responsibility for the whole LEAP-One mission: keeping mechanical, electrical, software and science work moving towards a rover the team can operate together. His role spans department coordination, system integration and representing HSM Aries beyond the lab. At Space Night Jena, he presented LEAP-One and AQUILA to visitors from research, industry and government.
His engineering interests began with automobiles and now extend into software research and development at SOMIC Packaging. He is also a coauthor of the team’s LEAP-One design preprint, helping turn the programme’s practical work into a technical record others can build on.
Selected research & projects
LEAP-One: A Mars Rover Designed for Remote Mars Analogue Scientific Exploration and Sampling Missions — 2026 preprint; rover design, scientific sampling and remote operation.