In a first, Odisha's NaPSAT team gets selected for NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge

For first time in history, a team of school students from India has been selected to participate in NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge, scheduled in April 2021.

Navonmesh Prasar Student Astromy Team (NaPSAT) from Odisha, comprising 10 school students, has been selected for this challenge. NaPSAT is a Bhubaneswar-based interdisciplinary team of enthusiasts, who eng in projects ranging from designing systems, rovers, rockets, satellites, and astromy to participating in various international events.

Navonmesh Prasar Foundation created a team of students during COVID-19 pandemic and trained m for NASA Rover Challenge, said its founder, Anil Pradhan. team is designing a rover that can move on surface of Mars and it would be a human-powered rover, he added. 

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"We got invitation from NASA and event will take place in April 2021. We are preparing a rover and will send it to NASA. We will go re and compete with or teams. We are also raising funds," Pradhan said.

Tanvi Mallick, a Class 9 student, who is part of team was glad to share about her selection. She said team will represent India in competition to be held in Alabama in April next year.  Speaking about technicalities of ir design, ar team member Ankan Mondal said that ir rover can handle weight of two people while moving on terrains of Mars and moon.

"We will be making human-powered rover for Mars and moon. We have to ensure that rover can handle weight of two people. 100 teams are participating in event," he said. 

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NASA's recent discovery

In a groundbreaking discovery, NASA confirmed on October 31 that its Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astromy (SOFIA) found water trapped inside sunlit surface of Moon. Confirming that re could be more water on moon than previously thought of, NASA said, water is t limited to cold, shadowed lunar places but instead is distributed across entire lunar surface. 

“SOFIA has detected water molecules (H2O) in Clavius Crater, one of largest craters visible from Earth, located in Moon’s sourn hemisphere,” NASA revealed in an official release to press.

It added, that administration’s scientific team had detected some form of hydrogen earlier, but all previous observations have w been confirmed.

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(With inputs from ncy)