Bangalore: An 18-year old engineering student from here was today declared as the regional winner from India in the 'YouTube Space Lab' global science competition.
Sachin Kukke, a first year mechanical engineering student of BMS College here, is one of the six winners in the 17-18 year old category of the competition to design a science experiment that can be performed in space, organisers YouTube, Lenovo and Space Adventures announced.
Out of these six winners, space agencies like the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in cooperation with Space Lab will provide two global winners, a chance to have their experiment conducted and live streamed on YouTube to the world using a Lenovo ThinkPad laptop from the international space station.
Sachin's winning experiment was based on ferro-fluids and aims to measure their thermal conductivity in micro gravity, Google India Country Marketing Head Nikhil Rungta told reporters here.
The competition attracted participants from over 80 countries with the highest (40 per cent) entries coming from India, he said.
"We're very excited to announce Sachin Kukke as the regional winner from India... Through initiatives like these, we want students to get inspired and explore the wonders of science and technology", he said.
For the shy, reticent Kukke, the second son of a police head constable, "this is like a dream come true."
"I had never imagined that I would get to experience zero gravity in my life. I had hopes of making it to the final six but was not so sure. I am very excited to win this and I am really looking forward to meeting the other finalists and experiencing the zero gravity flight," Kukke said.
An avid volleyball player, Sachin was inspired by his elder brother Swaroop (21), a student of aerospace engineering in France.
"He always prodded me on to not just be a bookworm but be an all rounder and take part in different competitions. Once I finish my mechanical engineering , I wish to do my Masters in Aerospace engineering from abroad", he said.
The six regional winning teams will visit Washington DC in March for a series of activities and events to honour their achievements, including a Zero-G flight, a Lenovo IdeaPad U300s Ultrabook, a special tour and dinner at Udvar-Hazy Air & Space Museum at Dulles and an awards ceremony on March 22,
Rungta said.
The two global winners, once they are 18, will also have a one-of-a-kind astronaut experience in Star City, Russia, the training centre for Russian cosmonauts.
The contest was announced on October 10, 2011 and students were invited to come up with an idea for a science experiment that can be conducted in space and upload a video explaining it to YouTube by December 14,2011.
Over 1,50,000 YouTube users worldwide helped determine the six regional winners by voting for their favourite experiment alongside a distinguished panel of judges including renowned scientist Prof Stephen Hawking and NASA's Associate Administrator of Education and former Astronaut Leland Melvin.
The rest of the six winners hail from Egypt, New Zealand, Spain and the U.S.
Rungta said India, with 120 million internet users, is the third largest online user market in US and China.
India has 25 million users on YouTube, of which 25 per cent come are the YouTube users on mobiles. "This (mobile usage for connecting sites like these) is going to be the next level of growth", Rungta said.
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