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For the consecutive third time and overall fourth time, Bangladesh has won the title of world champion of NASA International Space Apps Challenge 2023. ‘Team Voyagers’ of Bangladesh nominated by NASA as the team, became the world champion in the ‘Best Storytelling category’. The Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) organized the Bangladesh phase of the competition for the 10th time.
In this NASA International Space Apps Challenge 2023, some 57,999 participants from 8,715 teams from 152 countries compete in 30 categories, making it the largest NASA Space Apps Challenge to date. Of the 5,556 projects submitted from around the world, Bangladesh demonstrated outstanding innovation, creating a unique example of the country's emerging talent in space exploration.
The theme of Team Voyagers' project was "Everything Starts with Water." Earth has 370 quintillion gallons of water, but only 0.01 percent of that is usable, safe drinking water. Their mission was to create a visual tool to explain the complete water cycle on Earth, which would help students understand how water flows through the Earth's systems and how this precious resource is contributing to climate change.
Md. Khalid Sakib, team leader of ‘Team Voyagers’ of Varendra University from the Rajshahi region. The other members of the team are Md. Abdul Malek, Md. Shakhawat Hossain, Ms. Fahmida Akter, and Md. Atiqur Rahman.
Team leader Md. Khalid Sakib said, "From participating virtually to becoming world champions, this journey was not easy for us. But today, we are all very proud to be able to raise the name of our country in the world arena. Alhamdulillah. We would like to thank and express our gratitude to the BASIS for always being by our side in achieving this great achievement." Tanvir Hossain Khan, the convener of the NASA International Space Apps Challenge Bangladesh 2023 and the Director of BASIS, said, "This global championship is a testament to our creativity and technological capabilities. Bangladesh has once again shown that it can compete at the highest level of the global stage. We are extremely proud of our champions and congratulate them for their hard work." BASIS President Russell T. Ahmed said, "Our victory at the NASA International Space Apps Challenge proves again the vast potential and innovation in the field of information and communication technology among Bangladeshis. I extend my warm congratulations to our world champion team for upholding the flag of Bangladesh in front of the world through this hat-trick victory. I would also like to extend my congratulations and appreciation to all the mentors, judges, and volunteers associated with this program." The mentors for the NASA International Space Apps Challenge Bangladesh 2023 were Ariful Hasan Opu and Mohammad Mahdee-uz-Zaman.
However, NASA of the United States is implementing this program with the aim of bringing together talented young people from different fields such as technicians, scientists, designers, artists, educators, entrepreneurs from 152 countries of the world to find innovative solutions to solve various global problems of the world. As part of this, in the last October, BASIS has organized the Bangladesh local event in 9 cities of Bangladesh (Dhaka, Chattagram, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Khulna, Barishal, Rangpur, Mymensingh and Cumilla).
It is to be noted that in 2018, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST)'s Team Olik won the world championship by creating a virtual application that would give the experience of traveling to the moon in the ‘Best Use of Data category’. In 2021, the combined team of Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET) and Bangladesh Army University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) ‘Team Mohakash’ won the world championship in the ‘Best Mission Concept category’, and in 2022, "Team Diamonds" won the world championship in the ‘Most Inspirational category’.
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