The International Space Settlement Design Competition (ISSDC) is simultaneously one of the most exciting and challenging competitions for high schoolers in the world and is conducted annually by a partnership of Aerospace Education Competitions and the National Space Society, a global organisation based in the US advocating for space settlements. And after years of preparing, when you scale the summit by being declared as the winning team, it certainly gives you a high amount of multidisciplinary knowledge and an industry exposure early on.

This was exactly how a team of 10 students from Amity International School, Pushp Vihar (Delhi) felt after the school organised a press conference on Aug 8 to discuss their phenomenal feat of winning ISSDC in the last week of July. The students namely Samaya Chauhan (class XI), Akshita Bhandari (XII), Dhruv Bhandari (XII), Aaditya Raj Verma (XII), Namya Jain (XII), Yash Wadhwa (XII), Avneet Kaur Virdi (XII), Taarush Goswami (XII), Daksh Dhull (XII) and Arsh Arora (XII) visibly looked a lot confident, wise and happy as they shared the spotlight with Dr. Amita Chauhan, chairperson, Amity International Schools, school principal, Dr. Ameeta Mohan, faculty members and other stakeholders.

As several schools in India have been encouraging their students to participate in this competition for the past decade, the city level competition in the qualifying round is also stiff and therefore taken seriously by schools, mentors and families. 

According to Dr. Ameeta Mohan, the selection of the students itself was meticulous. “Once the circular was shared, there was an overwhelming response. Then, we know our students for years, their strengths and weaknesses, so based on our own assessment, we chose the team from across the disciplines,” she added.

The journey for the Spaceset 2023-24 began in September last year when two teams from Amity International School, Pushp Vihar New Delhi, submitted proposals for the Qualifying round of the competition. Both the teams secured spots for the INSSDC (Indian Space Settlement Design Competition) and submitted their proposal for a resubmission to secure a position for the ARSSDC (Asian Regional Space Settlement Design Competition) and one of the teams secured a position for the ARSSDC.

After winning the National and Asian rounds, the team traveled to Kennedy Space Centre NASA, Titusville, Florida, USA, to participate in the International Space Settlement Design Competition, hosted from July 26 to 29 and won. 

Extending heartiest congratulations to the students, Dr. Amita Chauhan said, “It is a matter of immense pride and pleasure that our students have performed exceedingly well, at an international competition of such a high stature. We, at Amity, are committed to the holistic development of the students and nurture their skills and talent so that they are ready for all championships, at national as well as international level. Students are future leaders of tomorrow and through this outstanding achievement in the field of science and technology, they have made their parents, teachers and country proud.”

Principal Dr. Ameeta Mohan added, “Our students are prepared to showcase their talent at various platforms and proper guidance and training is provided to every student, and enable them to develop their skill sets. We are extremely proud of our students and wish them good luck for all their future endeavours.”

Recounting the experience at the ISSDC, the students said the deadline and timing were a major challenge as the competition lasted 41 hours and created pressure situations and creative differences. 

A total of 60 students worked under the company named “Vulture Aviation” which had six schools from across the globe, including Amity International School, Pushp Vihar New Delhi, Lakshmipat Singhania Academy from Kolkata, The Endless School from China, East Coast School from the USA, a team from Australia and a team from UK. The competition involved designing a space settlement at the Peary crater on the moon. 

The experience of participating in this competition teaches high school students’ optimism for the future, technical competence, management skills, working in an organisation chart, knowledge of space environments and resources, appreciation for relationships between technical products and human use, teamwork, and techniques for preparing effective documentation. It requires that students integrate their knowledge of and utilise skills in space science, physics, math, chemistry, environmental science, biology, computer science, writing, speaking, art, and common sense.

Thanking the school and parents for the opportunity to participate in such an experiential competition, these Amity students of the winning team cited a range of learning experiences that have changed their outlook and understanding of not only space but of society and sciences.

This cohort comprises astrophysics enthusiasts to students from commerce and humanities streams besides STEM students. From widening their imagination and understanding of space sciences to human habitation and utilities, data centres, robotics, evacuation, financial planning and marketing, these students have expanded their learning in each of these fields as they were needed to develop basic understanding of this and specialise in their departments.

“You’ll see a lot of Amity students like these at the forefront of realising the Vikshit Bharat 2047 vision of the prime minister,” said Dr. Amita Chauhan. 

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