138 Indian entries acknowledged by NASA in space settlement contest
138 entries from Indian students, including individuals and groups, have been honoured at the NASA Ames Space Settlement Contest 2017. The grand prize went to a team of two students from New Delhi - Shashwat G. and Ankita P. from DPS RK Puram - for their project 'Anastasi'. The competition, which received 1,500 submissions from 6,000 students, acknowledges the best ideas in orbital settlement.
Mumbai school receives accolades
Sarah Thomas of Class 9 and a Class 7 group of Mumbai's Narayana E-techno school have bagged second prizes in their respective categories. Thomas designed 'Zion', while Anay Sodani, Saicharan Bhogavalli and Swayam Mohanty submitted 'Accredo'. Two other teams from the school received honorary mentions.
The Accredo - a space habitat for 17,000 people
For construction of the 'Accredo', the team proposed using space debris, which would be captured with the 'DEBRICATCHER'. "We made a model of a habitat that would be located on the Martian Aerostationary orbit where a population of 16,000-17,000 can survive by creating earth-like conditions" said Swayam Mohanty. It took them a year to design 'Accredo', which is proposed to be built by 2050.
$3,000 for grand prize winners
If grand prize winners Shashwat G. and Ankita P. attend the International Space Development Conference in St. Louis, USA, in May, they will be felicitated with the $3,000 NSS Bruce M. Clark, Jr. Memorial Space Settlement Award. Other high-ranking winners will be given the chance for an oral presentation of their projects.
