City school wins NASA’s human exploration rover challenge

Ludhiana: A city school has bagged the first position among thousands of schools from across the world in the US space agency NASA’s human exploration rover challenge (HERC).
The NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) had launched an international competition in July 2021 by involving college and high school students in a rigorous, relevant, and continuously evolving project-based learning approach, which engaged students in hands-on engineering design related to NASA’s missions. NASA HERC is the agency’s highest-profile Artemis student challenge in which students of age group 14-19 are involved in engineering design challenges with an aim to engage students in the next phase of human space exploration.
The annual event provides students a platform to create a human-powered vehicle designed to traverse the simulated surface of another (extraterrestrial) world and complete mission tasks along the way.
Ludhiana-based DCM Presidency School was the only school from India that was selected in the high school category by NASA in October 2021 for this challenge. The school team received an invitation to present their prototype at an event in the US Space Centre, Huntsville, Alabama. However, due to the resurgence of Covid cases, NASA decided in early February to conduct the demonstration event in a virtual mode.
A team of 11 students from Classes IX to XI participated and made the project a reality as they worked hard in the last few months.
The team designed, built and tested technologies that enable rovers to perform in a variety of environments. The 5x5x5 prototype of the rover was constructed by the team who received sponsorship from Ceigall India Limited under the latter’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) scheme. NASA highlighted in the award ceremony that DCM Presidency had engaged around 3,000 students of various schools in Ludhiana and Chandigarh in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) engagement activities, which is a great achievement at an international level.
The team demonstrated activities related to engineering design process, vehicle mechanisms, 3D designing and printing to students from both private and government schools.
Anirudh Gupta, CEO, DCM Group of Schools, said, “The legacy group’s recent launch of the junior student research fellowship (JSRF) program through which students will get a platform and adequate funding for realizing their research ideas into prototypes.” School principal Rajni Kalra said she is proud of her team for this great achievement which will undoubtedly exhort others to participate in such major events in future.