Atal Innovation Mission to host event to channel young talent into space research

With the objective of fostering innovation and nurturing curiosity among school children in India, the Atal Innovation Mission has announced the National Space Innovation Challenge. This event, open to all schools across the country, provides students from Classes V to XII an open platform to innovate and solve modern-day space technology problems.

The Challenge will begin from today and ends on September 20.

NSIC 2023 is designed to ignite next generation space enthusiasts to understand and contribute towards the growing Indian space economy and future space workforce. Drawing inspiration from industry leaders, children can use this platform to explore and showcase their innovativeness.

Children belonging to schools that have established Atal Tinkering Labs and those which do not have ATL can submit their entries on the automated technology platform implemented by Navars Edutech (https://navarsedutech.com/nsic/)

Each student based on their interest and understanding, must select one problem which falls under any one of the Challenge themes. NSIC offers integrated content from industry mentor videos, resources and challenges for Junior Scientists (Grade 5-8) and Senior Scientists (Grade 9 -12). These can be used by the students to ideate and submit a short research report on a solution across diverse topics like space junk collection robot, reusable rocket design, satellite design, Indian spaceship design for Mars, and more.

Addressing the media during the launch of the Challenge, Dr. Chintan Vaishnav, Mission Director, AIM said: “The aim of this challenge is to enable innovation among young school students to create awareness of and opportunities to participate in the space sector early, and in a way that will not only help them learn about the space sector but also create interesting projects and innovations that truly matter to the sector.”

N. Sudheer Kumar, Director, Capacity Building and Public Outreach of AIM commented: “We take pride in collaborating with AIM to launch this challenge where students can explore space with creative freedom. We are hoping to make this an annual challenge.” He added that NSIC 2023 is a unique challenge for school students across India that aligns with the nationwide excitement around the successful launch of Chandrayaan-3 by Indian Space Research Organisation.

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