Six Indian students to participate in NASA Rover Challenge next week in US

Six students from across India will travel to the US next week to participate in the NASA Rover Challenge 2023. Students who have not even stepped out of their villages are now ready to fly to the American agency's space & rocket centre in Huntsville, Alabama, USA.

The students, all aged between 14 and 18 years from children's homes, remote villages, and cities across India have been selected to participate in the NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge 2023.

Mentored by the Odisha-based Young Tinker Educational Foundation (formerly Navonmesh Prasar Foundation), these children hailed from various socio-economic backgrounds from different parts of India. Their team is one of the 61 teams selected from all across the world.

Siddhanth Ghosh is from Mumbai, Chittineni Akarsh is from Andhra Pradesh, Sai Akshara Vemuri is from Andhra Pradesh, while Basudeba Bhoi, Akanksha Das and Om Padhi are from Odisha.

They have manufactured a rover that is capable of exploring the surface of Mars and the Moon and bringing back data and images. Their



team is all set to represent India at the international level and will travel to Huntsville, Alabama on April 14.

Akanksha Das staying in an orphanage, studying at government ITI Bhubaneswar, told ANI, "Interview was done across India, five thousand plus student participated in the interview and six students selected from them for NASA rover challenge for India. We send a proposal to Nasa and they accepted our proposal and we follow all the guidelines. We created a lightweight Rover. In the last edition we got world rank 3, this year we hope to bring 1st position in world rank."

Om Padhi, residing in a children's home, said that the people at the orphanage helped her.

"The people at the orphanage nurture my talent. They always tried to provide for me, whether it was my education or my interest in science. They came to know about the NASA project and took me to meet Anil sir. I gave an interview and was selected," said Om Padhi.

Anil Pradhan is the founder of the Young Tinker Educational Foundation and mentor of the team.