Chief Minister of Odisha flags off 20 astronomers’ visit to ISRO Bengaluru

These promising youngsters were selected through a series of tests of Young Astronomer Talent Search (YATS)-2015-16, organized by Tata Steel in collaboration with Pathani Samanta Planetarium.

Congratulating the students and conveying his best wishes, Patnaik expressed the hope that the young talents would utilise this visit to enhance their knowledge.

He also appreciated the efforts of Pathani Samanta Planetarium and Tata Steel for successfully organizing the Young Astronomer Talent Search program.

In addition to visiting the facilities at Satellite Center of ISRO, these students will have the rare opportunity of interacting with some of the top space scientists of the country during their visit. The Bengaluru centre of ISRO is engaged in developing satellite technology and implementation of satellite systems for scientific, technological and application missions.

With an aim to popularize the excellent contributions of legendary astronomer of Odisha, Pathani Samanta while identifying and encouraging young talents from high school students of the state in the field of astronomy and space science, YATS is being organized since 2007.

To provide world class exposure to young talents of Odisha, every year 20 winners of YATS, selected through three levels tests from amongst students from class VIII- to X across the state, are sent on a visit to different centres of ISRO. The young students not only get first-hand experience of visiting the renowned ISRO Satellite Centre, but also have opportunities to visit other important centers of Science in the city and interact with the senior scientists there.