Tata Steel’s Young Astronomer Talent Search (YATS) 2018-19 programme, witnessed participation of over 60000 High school students creating a record in its 12 year history. Around 32,000 students had participated in the competition last year. However, the number nearly doubled this year nearly to 63,000 students from 300 schools of all the 30 districts in Odisha. “Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik felicitated 20 winners of the programme at a function held at Pathani Samanta Planetarium here on Thursday”, a Tata Steel release said.
The winning group will get an opportunity to visit one of the premiere facilities of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to get a first-hand experience of space science in action, the release stated.
The theme for this year’s competition was “Imagine space exploration, 50 years from now” which included quiz competitions and essay writing. Speaking at the programme on Thursday, Arun Misra, vice-president, raw materials, Tata Steel said, “To make the YATS initiative more meaningful, we intend to collaborate with experts, researchers and groups working in the field of astronomy.”
The YATS is an initiative of Tata Steel for high school students of the state, organised in association with Pathani Samanta Planetarium, under Odisha’s Science and Technology Department.
Congratulating the winners and participants, Director, Pathani Samanta Planetarium, Bhubaneswar, Chanakya Chaudhary said, “We seek to create a culture of scientific curiosity among our youth, both for their holistic development and the nation’s progress.”
More than seventy-five thousand young science enthusiasts of the state have participated in YATS in the last 11 years and 140 winning students had the opportunity to visit various facilities of ISRO in India.