Indian Teen Wins YouTube Space Lab Science Competition For APAC Region

India’s Sachin Kukke has been selected as the Asia-Pacific regional winner of the YouTube Space Lab science competition, said the U.S.-based company on Wednesday.

AsianScientist (Feb. 23, 2012) – India’s Sachin Kukke has been selected as the Asia-Pacific regional winner of the YouTube Space Lab science competition, said the U.S.-based company on Wednesday.

The contest for 14-18 year-olds was to design a science experiment that can be performed in space. Three teams were selected in two age categories (14- to 16-year-olds and 17- to 18-year olds) to represent the Americas, the Asia-Pacific region, and the Europe/Africa/Middle East region.

Hailing from Bangalore, the 18-year-old engineering student won for his YouTube video submission, which questioned whether microgravity affects the thermal conductivity of a ferrofluid subject to a magnetic field.

Kukke wondered whether how heat transfers in special magnetic liquids called ferrofluids, and could these unusual liquids be used to create advanced cooling systems on Earth that could take us even deeper into space.

Sachin Kukke’s video submission to YouTube:

Calling it a “dream come true,” Kukke will join five other winners – chosen by judges and more than 150,000 YouTube users – in Washington D.C. next month where the top teams in the two age categories will be announced.

While in the American capital city, the teenage winners will be treated to a zero-gravity airplane flight, and a tour and dinner at the National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center.

The two winning experiments will be conducted aboard the International Space Station (ISS) this summer and streamed live on YouTube. Winners have two options: travel to Japan to watch their experiments performed aboard the ISS, or undergo cosmonaut training in Star City, Russia once they turn 18.

The competition was organized by YouTube and Lenovo in cooperation with partners that include Space Adventures, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

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Source: YouTube.
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