Article Posted on : - Feb 04, 2010

An artist's rendition of an space colony. NASA Photo.

NEW DELHI (PTI): Notwithstanding the chill in Indo-Pak ties, students from both the countries have come together in designing an innovative crew ship to travel from Earth to Mars and jointly compete with students from other countries at NASA.

Under the Sixteenth Annual International Space Settlement Design Competition, sponsored by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Boeing, school students from Lahore and Delhi have prepared a novel project on future of human civilisation in Mars.

The project on crew ship to travel from Earth to Mars reflects an innovative idea of people of the Earth going to Mars by this space craft.

"You can go from Earth to Mars by a space craft. You can leave the space craft in the orbit between Earth and Mars and it will cross the orbit of Mars from where people can safely go to Mars," said Sanaa Nusreid, a student from Lahore Grammar School.

As per the project, 8,800 people, including 2,300 crew members and 6,500 travellers, can go Mars in the spacecraft.

Fifteen students from Lahore and 12 students from Amity International School here have designed this project.

These students met US Ambassador Timothy J Roemer here.

"These groups of Indian and Pakistani students are together designing the future of our civilization, one with few limitations of geographical boundaries. I congratulate them on their joint achievement, wish them well in their travels to NASA, and look forward to hearing about their experiences in the United States," said Roemer.

The students designed a city in space that will be home for over 10,000 people, demonstrating creativity, technical competence, management skills, environmental knowledge, teamwork, and presentation techniques to conquer the problems inherent in designing a Space Settlement.

They presented a 40-page report communicating their ideas and designs.

"It has been exciting experience to work with students in Delhi. We have working on the project for the last three months," Mahsheed, another student from Lahore, said.

These students will join 12 other finalist teams from around the world to compete at the Sixteenth Annual International Space Settlement Design Competition at NASA's Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas.