COIMBATORE: Scientist Mayilsamy Annadurai, as part of National Design and Research Forum's (NDRF) golden jubilee celebrations, is set to conduct a national satellite designing contest for school students. The first-of-its-kind initiative will help make students future-ready by providing them with the opportunity to design and launch their payloads into space, said NDRF Chairman Annadurai.
The contest is open for students of classes VIII to XII. A team with a maximum of five members can propose innovative ideas. The NDRF will then choose 12 teams and provide them with the technical guidance and 3D printed satellite body for free. The payloads of the chosen teams will be launched from Chennai. The helium balloon-powered launch will reach an altitude of 20 km and will be designed to soft-land back at the launch site; the retrieved payloads will be returned to the students for analysis, he explained.
While Space Kidz India is the launch partner, higher academic institutions and industries are supporting the contest. Institution of Engineers (India) is NDRF's partner taking the contest to the national scale. Students should register their details and ideas at www.ndrf.res.in; last date for application is November 25. Results will be declared on December 15. The selected teams should take care of their travel and accommodation. Satellite launch is scheduled for January 19. For any clarification, students can contact 080-22264336 or ndrf85@gmail.com.