Bhubaneswar: A team of school students from Odisha has been selected by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to participate in ‘NASA Rover Challenge’ to be held in Huntsville, Alabama in April next year.
The NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge, which is organised every year, features an engineering design challenge to engage students worldwide in the next phase of human space exploration. The competition challenges high school and college students to create a vehicle designed to traverse the simulated surface of another world. The team called Navonmesh Prasar Student Astronomy Team (NaPSAT) comprises of school students, all under 14, makes them the first school team from India to participate in the competition.
“We got a mail November 6 that our team is selected to represent India at NASA in the human exploration rover challenge 2021,” said Rishikesh Amit Patnaik who is part of the team. “We applied for the competition in October and sent our project report regarding rover and STEAM engagement activity,” he added.
The team comprises of nine core members – Rishikesh Amit Nayak, Anjishnu Pattanayak, Shreyash Vikas Mishra, Ankan Mondal, Nitesh Patanaik, Dati Danda Pani Patra, Kailash Chandra Barik, Tanvi Mallik and Kanuri Varshini. They are involved in design, bot driving, mechanics, presentation, management and marketing, all under the able guidance of the founding members and educators of Navonmesh Prasar Foundation.
The competition is set to be held from April 15 to 17 at the US Space & Rocket Centre in Huntsville, Alabama.
Rover challenge reflects the goals of NASA’s Artemis program, which seeks to put the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024.
The NaPSAT is an interdisciplinary team of space enthusiasts across disciplines, who are engaged in projects ranging from the design of space systems, rovers, rockets, satellites and astronomy to participate in various international events.