A Class 10 boy from Noida has been selected by ISRO to witness the historic Chandrayaan2 moon landing at its headquarters in Bengaluru in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 7.
Shivansh Pal is among 74 school students across India and only the third from Uttar Pradesh, the other two from Lucknow, to have got the special invitation from the Indian Space Research Organisation, according to his school.
The selected students will be witnessing the space event unfold from the ISRO Tracking Centre (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru, it said.
The 15-year-old boy was shortlisted on the basis of an online quiz competition conducted by ISRO in coordination with MyGov.in from August 10 to 25 to increase awareness about the space programme, his school said.
"The criteria for selecting successful winners was maximum correct answers in the shortest time," said Shivansh, a student of Amity School, Noida.
Expressing his joy, Shivansh said he is overwhelmed to be a part of this "monumental moment" and hopes it will further encourage him towards his aspiration to be an astrophysicist.
The teenager added that he finds science very interesting, especially physics, and hoped to contribute to this field in future.
India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle GSLV MkIII-M1 had successfully launched the 3,840-kg Chandrayaan2 spacecraft into an earth orbit on July 22.
Chandrayaan2 is India's second mission to the moon and comprises a fully indigenous orbiter, lander and rover. The rover Pragyan is housed inside Vikram lander, according to the Department of Space.
Amita Chauhan, chairperson, Amity International Schools, said it was a proud moment for entire school with one of its students getting ISRO invitation to watch India's ambitious moon mission Chandrayaan2 landing on the surface of moon along with the prime minister."
"It is a matter of pride that he is the only student from Gautam Buddh Nagar (Noida) region and third from UP state to be selected by ISRO and hoped the boy will get to learn a lot from this visit and advised him to share the knowledge with other students as well," she said.
The mission objective of Chandrayaan2 is to develop and demonstrate the key technologies for end-to-end lunar mission capability, including soft-landing and roving on the lunar surface.
This mission also aims to expand our knowledge about the moon through a detailed study of its topography, mineralogy, surface chemical composition, thermo-physical characteristics and atmosphere leading to a better understanding of the origin and evolution of the moon.
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