Mooncraft, India's the First Dream Spacecraft
Date: Monday, February 26 @ 11:08:22 MST
Topic: Technology Hardware Server Disc


Rediff.com and ISRO felicitates winners of Mooncraft design contest

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, February 26, 2007 (XTVWorld.Com) -- Rediff.com India Limited (Nasdaq: REDF), one of the leading worldwide online providers of news, information, communication, entertainment and shopping services and Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), today announced seven winners of Design a Mooncraft, a competition inviting Rediff.com readers send their designs for the first Indian mooncraft - Chandrayaan-1.

The Indian Space Research Organisation plans to send a spacecraft -- the Chandrayaan-1 -- to the moon in 2008. This would be India's first unmanned scientific mission to the moon. Participants in the Rediff contest offered their design take on a mooncraft for this mission.

The Winners Are:
First prize: Uday Kumar, 34, an NIT-Raipur-trained architect, who designs apartment buildings and IT buildings in Trivandrum .

Second prize: Animesh Behera, 23, an IIT-Bombay electrical engineering graduate, who works for Texas Instruments, Bangalore .

Third prize: Amarah Ahmed, 15, a student of B P Indian Public School, Malleswaram, Bangalore, who is studying for her ICSE exams.

Fourth prize: Kaushik Parmar, 23, a fourth year IIT-Bombay student, studying a erospace engineering .

Fifth prize: Aristo Xavier Coutinho, B K Nagaraaj, K Veera Raghavaiah

The first four winners were elated with the honour of being invited to receive their prizes from Dr G Madhavan Nair, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation at the ISRO headquarters in Bangalore. The prize ceremony was followed by a tour of ISRO and high tea with Dr Nair.

Each of the seven winners received Rs 10,000 in Rediff shopping vouchers.

Presenting the awards to the students, Shri G Madhavan Nair, Chairman, ISRO, complimented Rediff.com for their initiative to evoke the interest of the youngsters about India's first mission to the moon Chandrayaan-1. He said, "Chandrayaan-1, which is planned to be undertaken during 2008, will be an important programme that will provide immense opportunities to the younger generation to undertake challenging pursuits in space science and exploration."

The competition conducted by Rediff.com has enthused the students to use their talents and imagination in devising spacecraft for space exploration. This contest produced hundreds of entries of which the best were sent to Bangalore to be judged by Dr Nair. He selected the seven top entries after special deliberations.

About ISRO:
India's nodal agency responsible for expanding India's frontiers. Our home-grown space programme, despite punitive sanctions over India's nuclear tests, has year upon year produced stunning successes. Lately ISRO began developing the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles and Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle to launch INSAT type satellites on its own, without dependence on foreign rockets. And when the SRE-1 splashed into the Bay of Bengal in January 2007 it heralded the arrival of re-entry technology in India.

About Rediff.com:
Rediff.com is one of the leading worldwide online providers of news, information, communication, entertainment and shopping services for Indians. Founded in 1996, Rediff.com is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in New Delhi and New York, USA.

Safe Harbor Statement:
Except for historical information and discussions contained herein, statements included in this release may constitute "forward-looking statements." These statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those that may be projected by these forward looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to the slowdown in the U.S. and Indian economies and in the sectors in which our clients are based, the slowdown in the internet and IT sectors world-wide, competition, success of our past and future acquisitions, attracting, recruiting and retaining highly skilled employees, technology, legal and regulatory policy, managing risks associated with customer products, the wide spread acceptance of the internet as well as other risks detailed in the reports filed by Rediff.com India Limited with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Rediff.com India Limited and its subsidiaries may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and its reports to shareholders. Rediff.com India Limited does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by it or on its behalf.

Contact:
Manish Agarwal
Rediff.com India Limited
Tel: 91-22-24449144
Email: manishag @ rediff.co.in

Merrin John / Moksh Juneja
Genesis Burson-Marsteller
Tel: 91-22-24911783
Email: merrin.john @ bm.com/moksh.juneja @ bm.com







This article comes from Press Booth
http://press.xtvworld.com

The URL for this story is:
http://press.xtvworld.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=17123