The second edition of the YUva VIgyani KAryakram (YUVIKA) or the Young Scientist Program of ISRO was conducted at NESAC during 16th–30th May, 2022 along with four other major centres of ISRO namely, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram; U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), Bengaluru; Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad; and National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad. Four students of class IX-X standards from each State and Union Territory (UT) were selected for the programme based on the well- defined criteria. Students, who belong to rural schools, were given special weightage in the selection criteria. Thus, a total of 153 students were selected from the entire country. NESAC hosted the program for the 30 selected students from the eight states of North Eastern Region of India.
The programme included invited talks, experience sharing by the eminent scientists, facility and lab visits, practical and feedback sessions. The program covered many interesting activities like CANSAT experiment, Robot making, Telescope assembling, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) assembling and flying, Water rocket activity, exploring the Google Earth, Moon and other planets, Sky Gazing, etc. in addition to lectures on different interesting topics covering Astronomy, Astrophysics, Cosmology, Chandrayaan, Mangalyaan, Gaganyaan, different Space Applications, etc. Students were also taken to Regional Science Centre and Planetarium at Guwahati as well as for local sightseeing.
The students were taken to Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh to visit the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), where they could visit different facilities including first and second launch pad, mission control centre, launch vehicle assembly facility, different test facilities, etc. The students also witnessed the launching of RH200 sounding rocket, which will remain as a lifetime memory. The valedictory program was organized at SDSC-SHAR on 28th May, 2022, which was chaired by Chairman, ISRO/ Secretary, DOS, wherein he interacted with the students, answered their queries, and gave away the certificates. The program ended with a feedback cum concluding session on 30th May Chaired by Director, NESAC. All the students gave very positive feedback and mentioned that they were mesmerized by the program and thanked ISRO and NESAC for the opportunity given to them as well as for the arrangements.
