A 16-year-old student of a city school who has designed a model for human settlement in space, has left for Washington to attend the International Space Development Conference-2012. She qualified for the event by winning a design competition.
Kriti Sarna of Standard XI at St. Xavier's Senior Secondary School here designed the project, along with members of a student team, for settlement and development of the human race in an abode that rests in space.
The model, ‘Aerodorneial-4,' has been hailed for its facilities and cutting-edge automation services, which will help humans to flourish away from the earth.
The competition, in which the six-member team from Jaipur took part, was organised by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The conference will be held from May 24 to 28.
Ms. Sarna's project covers various aspects of the space settlement, such as structural design, operations and infrastructure, cost and scheduling, human factors, automation design and business development.
The team has envisaged the structure to be stationed somewhere between the earth and the moon.
“The settlement provides a large area for capturing solar power at all times, and its structure comprises a segmented hollow sphere with the strength to support weight. It has the stipulation for all the basic necessities to create a unique habitable environment for the humans,” said Ms. Sarna's presentation at the competition.
Her mother Renu Sarna, working for the UNICEF's Rajasthan unit here, said on Sunday that the global event would give her daughter a unique exposure and enable her to share the project's details with students and scientists from other countries.
Significantly, the model provides a habitable environment for 10,000 permanent residents in a “flawlessly designed” community plan.
All this not only provides the normal essential conditions of life but also allows residents to experience the magnificent beauty of space and explore new frontiers in the vast universe.