Indian students reach YouTube's Space Lab competition finals

Updated on: Saturday, January 28, 2012

India may have ranked second last at the PISA a few weeks ago, but when it came to the YouTube Space Lab competition Indian students proved their mettle by being named the second largest group of finalists, next only to those from the US.

The competition that was conducted by YouTube, Lenovo and Space Adventures, in association with The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), gave budding scientists a platform to showcase their talent. Grouped in two age categories, 14-16 years and 17-18 years, either alone or in groups of up to three, participants had to design and submit a video describing a science experiment that can be performed in space. Thousands of youngsters from more than 80 countries participated of which 60 were shortlisted to the finals. While US led with 10 finalists, India followed with nine. The Indian finalists come from cities like Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and New Delhi. So how does it feel like being a finalist?, Nitya Raju, a 14-year-old student from Hyderabad says, s fantastic.One of the first thoughts that came to my mind upon finding out that I was a finalist was that Stephen Hawking will judge my video. And it's not only Stephen Hawking, some of the greatest leaders, educators and space pioneers are on the panel of judges. Mohit Singhala, a 17-year-old student from Delhi adds, The experience has been delightful. It feels amazing when people around you congratulate you and show interest in what you have done or accomplished. Even this interview right now makes me feel awesome, its spell bounding to see your hard work paying off.

The maximum number of entries, about 40 per cent, were received from India followed by the US with 15 per cent. Poland, Canada and Spain were other countries where maximum entries came from. Participants were required to describe their science experiment ideas via video as well as demonstrate and animate the procedures they were submitting.

The winners will be decided on the basis of the judgement of the YouTube community alongside a prestigious panel of judges, including renowned scientist, Professor Stephen Hawking, NASAs Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations William Gerstenmaier, NASAs Associate Administrator of Education and former Astronaut Leland Melvin, ESA Astronaut Frank De Winne, JAXA Astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and Cirque du Soleils founder Guy Lalibert.

Six regional winners (two teams from each of the three regions- The Americas, Europe, Middle-East and Africa and Asia-Pacific) will be announced in February and will gather in Washington, DC, in March to experience a ZERO-G flight and receive a Lenovo IdeaPad laptop. From them, two global winners, one from each age group, will be announced and later have their experiments performed 250 miles above Earth aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and live streamed on YouTube from a ThinkPad laptop as part of a global event celebrating science and space. Additionally, the global winners will get to choose a unique space experience as a prize: a trip to Japan to watch their experiment blast off in a rocket bound for the ISS, or once they are 18 years old, a one-of-a-kind astronaut training experience in Star City, Russia, the training center for Russian cosmonauts.

Times of India

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