TEAM

United under our common goal, Team Tumbleweed brings together members from all across the globe.

Wanting to build a Mars Rover is an ambitious undertaking – but dreaming big is what we do. Over the past years, what started in a small garage has grown into an intercontinental organization of bright and driven people rethinking the current approach to Mars exploration. In technical and organizational projects we work on designing, developing, and improving the next-generation Mars rover and everything around it.

Wanting to build a Mars Rover is an ambitious undertaking.

Especially for a team of young scientists without a head-start in the space industry – but dreaming big is what we do. Over the past years, what started in a small garage has grown into an intercontinental organization bright and driven people rethinking the current approach to Mars exploration. Our interdisciplinary team’s organizational and technical projects work on designing, developing, and improving the next-generation Mars rover and everything around it.

LEADERSHIP

 

Julian
Rothenbuchner

Technical Lead

Linkedin Envelope
Image of Head of Science and Organization One Mikulskyte

Onė
Mikulskytė

Science & Organization Lead

Linkedin Envelope
 

The Teams

EXECUTIVE

Together with leadership, our executive team is responsible for keeping overhead on the various departments, creating strategies, goals, and structures. Bringing together all the different aspects of working on the Tumbleweed Mission, this team makes sure each project takes us one step further on our Road to Mars.

Maria João Azeredo

Head of Communications

Linkedin
Image of member Lucas Cohen

Lucas Cohen

Head of Engineering

Linkedin

İpek Doğan

Mission Coordinator

Cristian Ferent

Head of Electrical Engineering

Leonhard Goliasch

Head of People & Operations

James Kingsnorth

Head of Science

Linkedin

Tolga Ors

Head of Software Engineering

Linkedin

First Last

Head of Funding

PRODUCT COORDINATION & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

As developing a Mars rover requires a considerable amount of resources and financial support, the business team works hard to guarantee us the necessary funding, acting as a support entity for the other teams. They also work closely with our partners to ensure our collaborations run smoothly.

Supervisors: Julian Rothenbuchner & One Mikulskyte

İpek Doğan

PMO Manager

Sjoerd Fijan

Business Member

Marinos Podimatis

Business Planning Manager

Image of member Julian Wahlmüller

Julian Wahlmüller

Data Analyst

COMMUNICATIONS

As one of the few non-technical subteams, the Communications department is responsible for most of what you see of Team Tumbleweed around the internet. This includes producing content for and running our various social media accounts, as well as the website.

Supervisor: Maria João Azeredo

Ainis Alcauskis

Content Creator – Video

Peter Carvalho

Communications Strategist/Social Media

Image of member Amelie Finan

Amelie Finan

Website Lead

Garnet John

Content Creator

Miruna-Diana Lungu

Graphic Designer

Image of member Austin Phillips

Austin Phillips

Multimedia Strategy Lead

Danny Tjokrosetio

Events Representative

PEOPLE AND OPERATIONS (HR)

The People and Operations team makes sure communication within the team runs smoothly. The subteam’s responsibilities include handling the recruiting process from application to onboarding and supporting us with any issues that may arise for members.

Supervisor: Leonhard Goliasch

Jacobus Fourie

PnC Manager

Nikola Lugonja

Contributor

Timon Schnauffer

Coach

Johanna Sturm

Digital Infrastructure Admin

SCIENCE

Science goals lie in the heart of the rationale of any deep space mission. Our science department defines science cases in the areas of atmospheric science, surface geology, interior geology and geophysics, astrobiology, and the preparation of human Mars exploration. The team’s ultimate goal is the delivery of a full mission proposal, including science goals, scientific requirements, and the definition, selection, and design of the required instruments to fulfill the mission’s scientific purposes.

Supervisor: James Kingsnorth

Mário Balsemão

Mission Scientist

Gergana Bounova

Mission Scientist

Leonardo Bonanno

Mission Scientist

Luka Pikulić

Mission Scientist

Abhimanyu Shanbhag

Mission Scientist

ENGINEERING

Systems engineering is at the core of any space mission. This project formalizes earlier system engineering efforts by combining European space standards and utilizing Model-Based Systems Engineering approaches prevalent in the industry. Its importance lies in synchronizing all other technical projects and preparing upcoming Earth demonstration missions. Our mechanical and testing engineers are working to design and build a structurally rigid, foldable outer and inner structure for the Tumbleweed rover that is able to support the components from the other technical projects. It is crucial to improve, test, and verify the capabilities of a functional deployment mechanism, taking aerodynamics and possible obstacles into consideration.

Supervisor: Lucas Cohen

Rami Amer

System Engineer

Guillaume Brault

Lead Rover Engineer

Rohit Roy Chowdhury

Mechatronics & Trajectory Engineer

Celestie Gladys

CDH Engineer

Thijs van den Heuvel

EDV Engineer

Sabin Ilegitim

Structural & Mechatronics Engineer

Alizée Le Goff

System Engineer

Image of member Mikhail Maximchuk

Mikhail Maximchuk

Structural Engineer

Image of member Nils Neumeister

Nils Neumeister

Program Manager

Arun Osman

Structural & Mechatronics Engineer

Jakov Ostrouska

EDV Engineer

Ben Placke

Lead Mechanical Engineer

Markus Renoldner

Contributor

Vijayalaxmi Suvarna

CDH Engineer

Darius-Andrei Vicovan

Mechatronics & Trajectory Engineer

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Our Research and Development department works on the various electrical and software engineering challenges posed by a rover traversing the Martian surface at high speeds and in a semi-controlled manner. This includes a space-grade computing architecture, position determination, the electrical power system, and the Transmit and Receive Module for communications.

Supervisors: Cristian Ferent and Tolga Ors

Carlos Castro Garcia

Telecommunications Engineer

Marcus Dyhr

Software Engineer

Mohamed Hassan

Power Engineer

Tim Holthuijsen

Visual Odometry and Martian Simulation Lead

Abhimanyu Kovithal

Software Engineer

William Moretti

Senior Software Engineer

DO YOU WANT TO BE A PART OF OUR ROAD TO MARS?

APPLY

OUR MEMBERS COME FROM ALL ACROSS THE GLOBE

Press Kit
Privacy Policy
Impressum

© Team Tumbleweed 2020-2024