Two 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 and a semi-final lasting 21 hours, during which they had to fully conceptualize and finally present their unique designs for a fusion-propelled cycler settlement. At the end, one team from Delhi Public School R.K. Puram ended up winning.
The winning team went to meet the Minister for Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh and got a chance to talk about their presentation with him.
They also got a chance to interact with the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, who wished them good luck and success for the journey ahead.
The teams went for the International Finals to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA and were there from 27th July to 1st August 2016.. Here they got the chance to attend technical sessions organized by reputed engineers such as Norman Chaffee and Anita Gale.
The teams were paired up with students from USA, UK, Belgium, Wales and Uruguay to form the company “Grumbo Aerospace”, with NASA engineers acting as the ‘CEO’s and ‘advisors’ of their company. After a grueling 36-hour final, working on a Martian surface base meant for research into terraforming, the company emerged as the Runners Up.