Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Thursday felicitated 20 winners of the 12th Edition of Tata Steel’s Young Astronomer Talent Search (YATS) Programme 2018-19 at Pathani Samanta Planetarium.
The winning team will get an opportunity to visit one of the premier facilities of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and get a first-hand experience of the space science.
With the number of participants this year nearly doubling to 63,000 students from 300 Schools of all the 30 districts in the state, a new record in the 12-year history of YATS has been created.
The theme for 2018-19 was “Imagine space exploration, 50 years from now” and included an open-quiz for students from Class VI to X as well as an essay competition for students from Class IX to X.
School and Mass Education Minister Badri Narayan Patra, Science & Technology department principal secretary Nikunja Bihari Dhal, Pathani Samanta Planetarium director Kailash Chandra Sahoo, vice-president, corporate services, Tata Steel, Chanakya Chaudhary among others were present.
Chaudhary said, “Tata Steel has a long history of being led by people with a scientific bent of mind and temperament. So, we seek to create a culture of scientific curiosity among our youth, both for their holistic development and the nation’s progress with YATS contributing to that larger objective.”
Sibangi Subudhi from St. Xavier’s High School, Keonjhar, who is one of the 20 selected students, expressed her excitement for ISRO visit.
20 students to visit ISRO next year
