NASA, here we come

Five teenage boys from the city have done the nation proud by winning the second prize at an international contest organized by the American space agency NASA. Utkarsh Sirpurkar, Yash Pundalik, Aniruddha Purekar, Chanchal Padole and Aniket Dhok, all ninth standard students of Somalwar High School (Nikalas branch), would soon be visiting the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) centre in Huntsville ( Alabama) with many other students of their school.

The competition called the 'NSS NASA Ames Space Settlement Design Contest' challenges school kids across the globe to create a space settlement that can be habituated by the humans. Every aspect of human life from food to travel to waste management has to be dealt with through innovative means.

The prize winning project that the boys have named as ETHOS (Extra Terrestrial Habitat and an Omnipotent Settlement) has evolved after much hard work, including several sleep deprived nights. "It was even more difficult as they had to manage their studies, exams, coaching classes along with the project. However, the kids have worked hard without complaining. We only helped by supporting them morally," said Manik, mother of Utkarsh Sirpurkar.

This is the third consecutive year that the students from this school have found success at the same stage. Even this year around 16 kids from the school have won in various categories, becoming the only school in the country to have won so many prizes at the event.

Three of the class ten students Shubham Porlikar, Chinmay Bhatnagar and Nirant Khot bagged the third prize in the same category as their juniors. Saurabh Joshi, Ajinkya Gode, Devesh Gulhane and Chinmay Pohane from class eight also stood third in their age group. Others whose efforts have been appreciated include Salil Bhat of class twelve, Tanmay Band, Shubham Dhole and Kartik Ilkulwar from class ten.

Principal Vijaya Desai, whom all students called a huge source of inspiration, credited the repeated success of her students to the scientific attitude that the school inculcates in the children. "We always encourage our students to go beyond what they read in the textbooks. Fortunately, we have good students who take this lesson rather seriously," she said.

Having accompanied the students on the previous two occasions, Desai is now busy coaching the students to face the big scientific community along with teacher Damodar Thombre.

Thombre has been associated with the competition for three years now. "I am really looking forward to the interactions that we would have with the students and teachers from all over the world," he said.

This upbeat mood of the children and their parents, however, has been overshadowed by a few diplomatic hurdles that they have to clear. Dr Poornima Pundalik, mother of Yash, revealed that in 2009 the invitation letters issued by NASA had no signatures, while last year one of the female students missed out on the opportunity due to not getting a clearance from the American consulate. "We hope that no such thing happens this year and our children can visit NASA without any trouble," she said.