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“You once said, on the topic of going to space: ‘I don’t even think I can afford that.’ We may have found a way.”
Those were the words that opened an email Ranchview High School students from the METSAnauts team, Advay Singi, Arun Rebbapragada, Neil Rao, Sanay Tyagi and junior Arnav Sanale sent to Mark Cuban, asking for $5,000 to finish developing their project and compete at the international level. Just two hours later, they had their answer.
“We were like, ‘What? There’s no way that Mark Cuban’s people responded’,” said Singi. “We were really, really surprised and happy. We actually got the money, and now we have to spend it. It’s so crazy.”
On March 12, that support became official when representatives from Mark Cuban Companies visited Ranchview High School to present the students with a $5,000 check to help fund their project.
Through the NASA HUNCH (High Schools United with NASA to Create Hardware) program, student teams select real NASA engineering challenges and deliver working solutions — on time, under budget and built entirely by students. The program mirrors the demands of professional aerospace engineering, and for these Ranchview students, the classroom truly becomes mission control.
Against a backdrop of tightening education budgets across Texas, Ranchview students are thinking outside the box to bring their designs to life.
“It’s super awesome that CFBISD offers programs like this that may not be available in other districts,” said Singi. “It’s a really unique opportunity that we get to do classes like this and build projects like this during school hours.”
Mark Cuban’s investment is helping fund the team’s development of a robot swarm system for NASA’s Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) and Mars exploration environments, a project with real implications for future deep-space missions.
“Cuban’s support is a powerful signal that the private sector is watching and that these students are building things worth investing in,” said David Berry, CTE engineering teacher at Ranchview High School.
During their presentation, the METSAnauts unveiled a working prototype of an AI-powered rover capable of identifying and extracting mineral samples for lunar and Martian exploration. The robot includes an AI feature that enables astronauts without coding experience to write simple instructions for the rover to execute.
“It was the hardest project we thought NASA offered, so of course we picked it,” said Singi. “The team has done a great job, and I’m proud to be here talking about it.”
The funding will be used to purchase materials for three prototypes – including sensors, metal frames, cameras, and batteries – to build training environments that simulate the surface of the moon or Mars, and to help cover travel costs.
Ranchview High School's Engineering Academy has established itself as one of the premier programs in Texas. This year, that reputation is backed by extraordinary results: four student teams, including the METSAnauts, have been selected to travel to Johnson Space Center on April 28–29 to present their completed projects to engineers and staff from NASA.
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