In the academic year 2015-2016, 2 teams from Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram participated in the Asian Regional Space Settlement Design Competition (ARSSDC), both qualifying as semi-finalists (the highest qualification rank possible). The two teams were paired with various other qualifying teams from India, China and Pakistan. The teams underwent an orientation lasting 21 hours, during which they had to fully conceptualise and finally present their unique designs for a fusion-propelled cycler settlement. At the end, one team from Delhi Public School RK Puram ended up winning.
The winning team then went on to meet the Minister for Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh and got an opportunity to talk about their presentation with him.
They also got a remarkable opportunity to interact with the Honourable Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, who wished them good luck and success for the journey ahead.
The teams then went for the International Finals to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA in July, 2016. Here they got the chance to attend technical sessions organized by reputed NASA & Boeing engineers involved in known space missions —the Space Shuttle and Apollo programs— such as Norman Chaffee and Anita Gale.
The teams were paired up with high school students from the USA, UK, Belgium, Wales and Uruguay to constituting to the company “Grumbo Aerospace”, with NASA engineers acting as the ‘CEO’s and ‘advisors’ of their company. After a gruelling 36-hour final, working on a Martian surface base meant for research into terraforming, the company emerged as International Runners Up.