The Navonmesh Prasar Student Astronomy Team (NaPSAT), comprised of 10 students among which some are high school students and remaining, ITI students from Odisha, has been selected to participate in the NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge 2021 scheduled in April.

Bhubaneswar based Navonmesh Prasar Foundation started NaPSAT for space enthusiasts who have formed an interdisciplinary team to engage in projects ranging from the design of space systems, rovers, rockets, satellites, and astronomy. Students from NaPSAT participate in various national and international events.

The NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge features an engineering design challenge every year at a global level to engage students in the next phase of human space exploration. Organized annually, the event is “a more complex follow-up to the NASA’s successful Great Moon-buggy Race.”

The students presented their theme on rover making and how to tackle the real-life challenges encountered on Moon which was highly appreciated by the acclaimed scientists. NASA is encouraging the young innovators in space research, rovers, rockets, and satellite research through the event.

Founder of Navonmesh Prasar Foundation, Anil Pradhan, said that it is for the first time that a school team from India has been selected for this challenge. He further added, “We created a team during COVID time and identified 10 students from Odisha. We provided them training and later applied for NASA Rover Challenge. They are making a rover which can move on the surface of Mars and it would be a human-powered rover”.

Speaking about the technicalities, another team member Ankan Mondal said that their rover can handle the weight of two people while moving on the terrains of Mars and the moon. He also said, “We will be making human-powered rover for Mars and Moon. We have to ensure that the rover can handle the weight of two people. 100 teams are participating in the event”.

“We got a mail on 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. He further added, “We applied for the competition in October and sent our project report regarding rover and STEAM engagement activity”.

The competition is set to be held from April 15 to 17, next year at the US Space and Rocket Centre in Huntsville, Alabama. Rover challenge 2021 reflects the goal of NASA’s Artemis program, which seeks to put the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024.

The author is a student member of Amity Centre of Happiness