“There is a great respect for Indians in the U.S. Organisers of International Space Development Conference (IDSC) gave a warm welcome to us and we had good interaction with space scientists on various topics,” said the Nuzvid IIIT students who attended the ISDC, conducted by National Space Society of America in May.
Sharing their experiences during their five-day tour to Washington the budding engineers – K. Raj Kumar, S. Krishna Bhavana and K. Kusuma Priya -- stressed the need for looking into the possibility of arranging alternative habitations on other planets due to increase in global warming and pollution on earth.
“We had a series of discussions with the astronauts from different countries on asteroid mining, planetary defence, UV and other harmful rays, material to be transported from earth to moon, space junk and other topics. We also attended the weekend gala”, said Kusuma Priya, a native of Palacole in West Godavari district.
For the students it was a nice experience to discuss with the astronauts on developments in space and also with the delegates attended the conference from many countries all over the world. There was also a question-and-answer session on our project ‘Human Settlement in Space' during the meet, they said.
“Nine teams from Andhra Pradesh along with us were highly appreciated for the qualitative projects brought to the conference. The delegates repeatedly re-called the noted scientist and former President of India A.P.J. Abdul Kalam,” said the PUC second year student Bhavana.
International Institute of Information and Technology (IIIT) of Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies (RJUKT), Nuzvid Director Ibrahim Khan said that Shaik Saleem Khan acted as mentor for the students who attended the international conference.
Ten students got selected for NASA tour from Nuzvid IIIT, but only three could attend due to lack of sponsors. The institution management will help the students in taking up many more such projects in future, said IIIT OSD G. Ramakrishna Reddy.
