Rajan Vivek of Arizona and Prasanna Krishnamoorthy of Delaware.
By Raif Karerat
Two Indian American teenagers were among the 10 finalists of NASA’s national 3-D Space Container Challenge, which asked students to design models of containers that could aid astronauts with storage in space.
Ultimately, Rajan Vivek of Arizona and Prasanna Krishnamoorthy of Delaware missed out on top honors, which instead went to Ryan Beam of California, according to agency reports.
Beam’s ClipCatch design will allow astronauts on the space station to clip their fingernails without worrying about the clippings floating away and potentially becoming harmful debris.
Vivek’s Hydroponic Plant Box container tackles the challenge of containing water in a microgravity environment while still allowing plants to grow roots in it.
Meanwhile, Krishnamoorthy developed the Collapsible Container.
In order to use the limited space on international Space Station, the Collapsible Container can expand and compress to perfectly fit its contents. When empty, it can compress fully for easy storage, reported NDTV.
“The simplest tasks on Earth can be quite challenging, and even dangerous, in space,” said Niki Werkheiser, NASA’s In-Space Manufacturing project manager. “Being able to 3-D print technical parts, as well as the lifestyle items that we use every day will not only help enable deep space travel, but can make the trip more pleasant for astronauts,” he said.
NASA, in partnership with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Foundation, which managed the competition, announced the winners of the Future Engineers 3-D Space Container Challenge on Oct. 8.
Students across the United States spent part of their summer using 3D modeling software to design containers that could be 3D printed, with the eventual goal of advancing human space exploration on the International Space Station, Mars and beyond.