20 budding astronauts set off on exposure visit to ISRO, Bengaluru

Reported by Chinmaya Dehury

Bhubaneswar, May 2:

With the objective of providing world class exposure to aspiring astronomers from Odisha, Chief Secretary J K Mohapatra today flagged off an eight-day expedition to Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Bengaluru.

The expedition would culminate on May 9.

The participants of the expedition were selected through a rigorous three tier screening process.

“I congratulate you all for the passion and excellence which you have displayed in course of this long screening test and wish that you all remain committed to science and scientific research,” Mohapatra told the students while flagging off the event.

He said Odisha now has got world class science institutes. With basic science back in focus, there are now ample opportunities for science education in the state, he said.

The exposure visit for young talents is being organized jointly by Pathani Samanta Planetarium and Tata Steel from 2007. The present batch is the 9th batch of the 20 best students selected for the expedition.

This year, around 1000 school students from across the state participated in three different stages of the competition at the eight zones- Belpahar, Baleswar, Bhubaneswar, Brahmapur, Joda, Jajpur, Jeypore and Keonjhar.

Around 100 students selected in the regional tests at these 8 centres were invited for a state level final screening organized at Bhubaneswar on December 13, the birth anniversary of Pathani Samanta.

The theme of the competition was “Mission Mars” and the students were asked to display their models on the topic.

A panel of experts, after examining the models, finally selected 20 students for visit to ISRO.

During the visit, the students will also be taken to the Heritage Center, Aerospace Museum of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium and Indian Institute of Space Science at Bangaluru.

These budding talents will have opportunity to have interface with senior scientists of the institutes they visit.