Bangalore student is YouTube Space Lab Asia-Pacific winner

Washington, March 27 (IANS) India's Sachin S. Kukke is the Asia-Pacific region winner and one of the six global winners of the YouTube Space Lab 2012 contest for young people to design experiments that could be performed in outer space.

The winners of the contest by YouTube and Lenovo, in cooperation with Space Adventures, NASA, ESA (European Space Agency), and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) were announced at a ceremony at the Newseum here Friday.

Kukke's experiment explores transfer of heat in ferrofluid - a special liquid that gets magnetized when subjected to a magnetic field. The study can benefit development of advanced cooling and heat transfer systems.

A student of mechanical engineering at the BMS College for Engineering in Bangalore, Kukke called on Indian Ambassador to the US Nirupama Rao Friday and shared his experience of conceptualising and carrying out innovative scientific experiments, an Indian Embassy release said.

Warmly congratulating Kukke on his achievement, Rao said that in India, a country engaged in rapid economic development, "students like Sachin symbolise the hopes and the potential of a dynamic, resurgent India and it's young population".

She encouraged Kukke to pursue his goals and interests in the specialised area of aerospace engineering and wished him the very best for the years ahead.

At the meeting, Kukke was accompanied by Lee Hunter, head of brand marketing for YouTube, and Claudio Lilienfeld, senior policy manager for Asia Pacific at Google.

Nearly 40 percent of the total number of entries for the contest came from India alone, an indicator of the skills and level of interest in the field of exploration of outer space among the youth in India.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)