Sixty qualify for YouTube Space Lab contest finals

Mission Space

YouTube’s Space Lab –a competition to find out the next crop of space scientists-- has received thousands of entries from across the world, the internet platform has said.

Students in two age groups of 14-16 and 17-18 years were asked to submit videos of a possible experiment that can be performed during a space mission, enabling Space Lab page to receive 40 million visitors from across the globe.

The online video platform has said that the response has been unexpectedly overwhelming. Nearly 40 per cent of the entries was said to have come from India.

Significant number
“This is a remarkable number, given the challenge of designing experiments that could actually be carried out in space has traditionally been the mission of astronauts,” a YouTube statement on Wednesday said.

“Entrants not only described their science experiment ideas via video, but demonstrated and animated the ideas they were submitting.”

Participants have uploaded their video entries from nearly 80 countries, while the shortlisted finalists, including those from India, would go through a selection process to qualify for the chance to travel to space.

The competition, jointly held by YouTube, PC company Lenovo, American, European and Japanese space agencies –NASA, ESA and JAXA)—has shortlisted 60 finalists, who, from Wednesday, will be judged by YouTube community and renowned panel of international scientists comprising Prof Stephen Hawking, NASA’s associate administrator for human exploration and operations William Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator and former astronaut Leland Melvin, ESA astronaut Frank De Winne, JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and Cirque du Soleil’s founder Guy.

Six winners –two each from three regions—will travel to Washington, DC in March, where they would experience zero-G flight and would receive Lenovo IdeaPad laptops.
Two global winners will be chosen from the finalists in each age group, whose experiment will be performed 250 miles above the  earth in International Space Station and livestreamed on YouTube through Lenovo ThinkPad laptop as part of a global event to celebrate science and space.

The global winners would choose from one of several unique space experience: travelling to Japan to see their experiment blast off into the space for ISS or astronaut training at Start City in Russia, where the Russian Cosmonauts are trained.

Out of 60, ten finalists are from the US, while nine are from India. Canada and Spain round up the top five countries that are represented in the finalists group.