FP TrendingNov 13, 2020 15:48:10 IST
A student astronomy team from Odisha known as the Navonmesh Prasar Student Astronomy Team (NaPSAT) has been selected to participate in the NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge that will be held next year in April 2021.
The group of 10 school students who are aged between 14 to 19 will be flying to Huntsville, Alabama in the US to represent India in the international competition staged by the American space agency, as per the team’s official website. The group is working on building a “human-powered” rover that will be able to move on the surface of Mars.
The group is made up of 10 school students who are aged between 14 to 19 years old. Image credit: Twitter/NapSat
NaPSAT is an initiative of Bhubaneswar-based Navonmesh Prasar Foundation that houses space enthusiasts and aims to create curiosity among school, skill development and university students in the field of Space and Astronomy. The selected 10 members have been shortlisted from about 800 willing participants and the team works on various projects like design of space systems, rovers, rockets, satellites and astronomy to participate in various international events.
Anil Pradhan, the founder of the Navonmesh Prasar Foundation, spoke with news agency ANI and said that it was happening for the first time that a school team from India was selected for this challenge.
History Created,
For the First Time from India
10 high school students of NaPSAT have been selected for NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge 2021 to represent INDIA at NASA.@PMOIndia @CMO_Odisha @rashtrapatibhvn @GovernorOdisha @AmitShah @dpradhanbjp @NASA @isro #napsat pic.twitter.com/Ul7eyXhHpL— NaPSAT- Navonmesh Prasar Student Astronomy Team (@NaPSATindia) November 12, 2020
Pradhan said that they created a team during COVID-19 time and identified 10 students from Odisha. They provided them with training and later applied for NASA Rover Challenge. Anil revealed that the interdisciplinary team has school students as well as ITI students, adding that the team is making a rover which can move on the surface of Mars and would be human-powered.
Congratulations to the Students from #Odisha who have been selected by @NASA to participate in the #NASA Rover Challenge in Huntsville, Alabama.
The team NaPSAT, comprises of U-14 school students. It’s an initiative of Bhubaneswar-based Navonmesh Prasar Foundation. pic.twitter.com/8QBmQNXZfk
— Sujeet Kumar (@SujeetKOfficial) November 12, 2020
He added that NASA had sent them an invitation for the 2021 event and they will be sending their rover over to the US soon. In order to meet all the expenses involved, the foundation is also raising funds.
A team member Ankan Mondal elaborated upon the technicalities of the Mars rover. He said that their rover will be able to handle the weight of two persons and will be capable of moving on the terrain of Mars as well as the Moon.
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