Bhagalpur: In a proud moment for Bihar, three schoolchildren from the state are among a team of 13 high school students from across the country to participate in the prestigious 'Human Exploration Rover Challenge' organized by NASA this year.
The NGO 'Young Mind Research and Development' based in Bhagalpur district of Bihar will participate in the NASA event this year. The founder of this NGO is Gopal ji, a young scientist resident of Dhruvganj, Bhagalpur. Under his leadership, a team of 13 high school level children from India will participate in the program to be held on the 30th Foundation Day of NASA. Three of the 13 children are from Bihar.
In a special conversation with ETV Bharat, Gopal ji said that every year in the month of August, innovative ideas are sought by NASA, for which registration has to be done. He said that an idea of an unmanned rover to land on the moon was sent by the NGO for this year's event which has been selected.
Gopal Ji said that a total of 30 teams in the world have been selected for the World Human Exploration Rover Challenge this year. The event will be organized at NASA on 19 and 20 April. The children's team will leave from India on the 16th April.
The team going to NASA includes Karunya Upmanu, Tanishk Upmanu and Surya Narayan Rajak from Bihar, Aarushi Paikre from Odisha, Asna Minocha, Kiyan Kanodia from New Delhi, Aishwarya Mahajan from Rajasthan, Arun Kumar, Lokesh Kumar and Arya Bansal from Haryana, Om, Pallavi, Sameer Yasin, Utkarsh and Rohit Pal from Uttar Pradesh, Pathan Abu Suleman from Andhra Pradesh and Sunaina Sahu based in the US.
Team leader Gopal ji had created ripples in the science circles at the tender age of 13 by making a machine to generate electricity from a banana! Young scientist Gopal ji's name is also included in the list of world's top 30 startup scientists. Currently he is working on single use plastic, plate and paper from banana pulp.
Gopal ji said that the unmanned rover project has been created by his team with one month's hard work with an expenditure of Rs 10 lakh. The young scientist has also received invitation letters to visit NASA.
The ambitious project is being supported by MThrim Foundation, which works to advance science innovation and technology-driven learning. Gopal Ji said that his team will also get a chance to work on NASA's Moon mission. “If the Indian Space Agency ISRO gives us a chance, we will work with them also," he added.
