Among the expert panel was V Adimurthy, professor and dean of research at the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, who was the mission concept designer for India's Mars Orbiter Mission. The chairman of Antrix Corporation Ltd, the marketing arm of ISRO, was also part of the tech review."The entire team was so excited about Adimurthy reviewing our mission and he said such amazing things about us," said Amrit.

Team Indus, co-founded by IITians Rahul Narayan, Indranil Chakraborty and Amrit, was earlier this year named among the five finalists for what are called milestone prizes, teams that have achieved certain technological landmarks and appear closest to reaching the final objective. Considering their rankings in different tech landmarks, the team is regarded to be among the top three.

But there are two other major things they need to tie up. They need ISRO's help in using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) to get their robotic spacecraft off the ground. And then they need funds of about $35 million."They funding requirement is huge. It can even be funding in kind," says Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, CMD of Biocon, who recently interacted with Team Indus and K Kasturirangan. L&T, Sasken and Tata Communications are helping them with expertise and facilities.