Nilachakra

Orissa students' rocket design adjudged best by NASA

Jaya Jagannath,

Adding another feather to the Pride hat of Orissa, A Rocket designed by two Orissa students got selected as the best by NASA.

A project presented by Oriya siblings Pooja and Swastika has won the first prize in the Nasa Space Settlement Design Contest-2009 conducted by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The winning model titled Gagaraja Odisa has been presented by Pooja, a student of BJB Junior College, and Swastika, of St Xaviers High School. The 100m tall model comprises two segments  Akbar (upper) and Mahayana (lower).

The space vehicle is laid out in a triangular manner called Triratha as per ancient Kalingan Temple Style found in Orissa. Pooja and Swastika of Bhubaneswar have won the grand prize from among 309 projects submitted by 875 students.

These projects were sponsored by 96 teachers from across the world. Students from US, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Dubai, UAE, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Romania, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Uruguay participated in the competition.

Puja is a Plus Two second year student in BJB Junior College in Bhubaneswar and her younger sister, Swastika is a student of Class X at St Xaviers' High School, Kedargouri in Bhubaneswar. The girls were guided by their father Sri. Deepak Bhattacharya, a scientist. The vehicle can also carry an additional two metric tonne weight to a geo-stationary orbit about 36,000 km above the earth's surface.

Well, the debatable topic here is Indigenous Technology of our country got leaked by a space scientist thru the hands of his off springs to a super power nation which always kept distance and reluctance to provide any technical assistance to our country in space research and development sectors. Any way we wish the young achievers a heart full of congradulations. This news is archived from Orissa Diary.

Regards
Team Nilachakra