Sunday, December 10, 2017

Application Opens for the 5th National Astronomy Olympiad 2018!

We are pleased to open the application for the 5th National Astronomy Olympiad 2018 in Nepal! Interested students who are currently studying at high school or completed high school and will join the university program in 2018 can participate in the program. Participant should not be more than 20 years old by June 30, 2018!

The first round of selection will be held at different cities on Saturday, February 17, 2018! The application deadline is Friday, February 9, 2018.



NAO2018 Application Form and Handbook are now available at www.nepalastronomicalsociety.org/olympiad

Currently, we have five application centers located in Biratnagar, Kathmandu, Chitwan, Pokhara and Butwal. Details on the application centers, contact persons and contact details are listed below: 

Interested to know more about our olympiad program? Please feel free to contact our office (41103440 for an orientation program at your college/city!

Friday, December 8, 2017

NASO 5th National Astronomy Olympiad Logo Competition Result Announced Today!

We are pleased to announce the winners of our NASO 5th National Astronomy Olympiad Logo Competition!

Lets congratulate the winners for their worderful works:
  • First Prize: Safal Shrestha
  • Second Prize: Ayush Pandey
  • Third Prize: Surya Gyawali
The competition was open during September 25-November 15, 2017. Our judges carefully evaluated all the logos. The judging panel included NASO executives, astronomy olympiad committee members and teachers selected for the astronomy olympiad exposure camp which was held in India during last month.

The First Prize Logo designed by Safal Shrestha

Safal Shrestha, 16 years science student currently studying at class 11 at Capital College and Research Center (CCRC), Koteshwor, Kathmandu, expressed, “It was an unimaginable moment for me to achieve first place in the logo designing competition where many skilled people had participated alongside me. It was the first competition I entered related to graphic design. I had put all my hard work in this design and all the skills I’ve learnt since I laid my hands on Photoshop one and a half years ago. I’d like to thank NASO for making me believe that passion is everything and I’m really delighted to get such opportunity.”


The Second Prize Logo designed by Ayush Pandey


The Third Prize Logo designed by Surya Gyawali


The first prize winning logo will be used as an official logo for our 5th National Astronomy Olympiad 2018.

The winning logos will get cash prize of NRs. 5, 000/-, NRs. 1, 000/- and NRs. 500/- with certificates respectively during a ceremony organized in Kathmandu in 2018.


Waiting for the astronomy olympiad?
Application for the 5th National Astronomy Olympiad 2018 will be opened at www.nepalastronomicalsociety.org/olympiad soon!

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

World Space Week Concludes in Nepal!

World Space Week 2017 celebration in Nepal has been concluded with a program at Khwopa Secondary School, Bhaktapur today!

Photo 1: Panel session: from left to right [Suresh Kumar Dhungel (NAST),  Sudarshan Karki (LIGO), Manisha Dwa (NASO/WIAN), Khim Panthee (NYC-Nepal) and Suresh Bhattarai (NASO)]
Photo 2: Participants and school faculties paying attention during the panel discussion on 'How Nepal can contribute to the global scientific community?'
 During the event, Sudarshan Karki, PHD candidate at Department of Physics, University of Oregon, USA and also working at LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory) gave the information about the scenario of the detection of gravitational waves to the students. His presentations gave insight to the working and importance of such observatory. 

Photo 3: Sudarshan Karki, PhD candidate, Department of Physics, University of Oregon, USA sharing about LIGO and gravitational waves detection.
During the panel discussion, Khim Panthee, science expert at National youth Council, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Government of Nepal provided the information on the importance of youth involvement in science sectors of Nepal. Also, Dr. Suresh Kumar Dhungel, Chief at Faculty of Technology, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) provided the first hand information on the initiatives that NAST to the audience. He also shared the proposed initiatives to encourage innovative minds for the scientific achievements. Manisha Dwa, coordinator at Women in Astronomy in Nepal (WIAN) and Director/Project Coordinator at shared her experience doing science and how Nepali girls can take leadership in global scientific community. Sudarshan Karki shared experience following passion versus societal trends and how we can go along with our passion to achieve a goal in life. Suresh Bhattarai, Chairman at NASO highlighted the importance of collaborations engaging more Nepali into scientific activities. He also shared some of the initiatives of NASO where open data has been used for research activities and how students of every level can participate based on their skills/knowledge/experience being a part of global scientific community.

Photo 4: Panelists with organizers and school officials during a group photo. From left to right [ Suresh Bhattarai (NASO), Khim Panthee (NYC-Nepal), Suresh Kumar Dhungel (NAST), Prakash Kumar Shrestha (KSS), Niru Shrestha (KSS)]

Prakash Kumar Shrestha, Principal at Khwopa Secondary School highlighted the importance of such program in coming days to provide students latest developments in scientific community. He also provided token of love to all the panelists.

Photo 5: Prakash Kumar Shrestha, Principal at Khwopa Secondary School providing Token of Love to Suresh Bhattarai, Chairman at Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO) during the event.
During the program two documentaries 'The known Universe' and 'From Sputnik to Today to Tomorrow' were screened.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Updates on WSW2017 Competitions

This year, as a part of our World Space Week celebration we started two competitions in September with a deadline today! With several requests from the participants and schools, we extended the deadline till Wednesday, November 15, 2017!

NASO 5th National Astronomy Olympiad Logo Competition
We are pleased to announce the NASO 5th National Astronomy Olympiad Logo Competition as a part of our world space week celebration in Nepal. Interested designers must submit their design by October 10, 2017 November 15, 2017!

Important Details:
Submission Open: September 25, 2017
Submission Close: October 10, 2017 November 15, 2017
Registration Fee: NRs 200/-

Top three logos will be awarded with cash prizes and certificates in Kathmandu. Also, the first prize winner logo will be used as the logo of 5th National Astronomy Olympiad to be held in 2018.

This competition has been designed to provide an opportunity to more people to get involved with our astronomy Olympiad program. It will also provide them platform to share their creativity with national, regional and global exposure!

Rules and regulations:
  • The logo must include the following themes: Astronomy, Education & Nepal and should reflect the 5th National Astronomy Olympiad 2018
  • Submitted designs must contain the original idea/creation of the designer. 
  • The design must be submitted at olympiad[at]nepalastronomicalsociety.org
  • The logo should be 600 x 600 pixels in size. 
  • Designer must submit the his/her logo in no more than 200 words. Design without description will not be accepted for competition.
Anyone who wants to share their creativity with us wish to get national and international exposure can submit their work.
Space Art Competition 2017: Win A Telescope
Space Art Competition 2017 is an opportunity to students studying till class 8 to share their passion for space and arts and win a telescope!

Rules:
  • Must be your own creation
  • Size of the poster should be A3 (29.7cm x 42cm)
  • Scan copy of the work should be send with a subject line: NASO Space Art Competition 2017 to info.naso [at] gmail.com
  • Only short-listed works will be requested to be sent to Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO), P.O. Box 21229, Kathmandu, Nepal
  • Name, class, gender and name of the school should be mentioned in the top of poster
  • One submission per registration
  • Submission without registration payment will not be considered for the evaluation
Important Details:
Submission Open: September 17, 2017
Submission Deadline: October 10, 2017 November 15, 2017
Registration fee: NRs 200/–

The competition is open to all the students currently studying at basic school level (upto class 8) in Nepal.


Monday, September 25, 2017

NASO 5th National Astronomy Olympiad Logo Competition!

We are pleased to announce the NASO 5th National Astronomy Olympiad Logo Competition as a part of our world space week celebration in Nepal. Interested designers must submit their design by October 10, 2017 November 15, 2017!


Important Details:
Submission Open: September 25, 2017
Submission Close: October 10, 2017 November 15, 2017
Registration Fee: NRs 200/-

Top three logos will be awarded with cash prizes and certificates in Kathmandu. Also, the first prize winner logo will be used as the logo of 5th National Astronomy Olympiad to be held in 2018. 

This competition has been designed to provide an opportunity to more people to get involved with our astronomy Olympiad program. It will also provide them platform to share their creativity with national, regional and global exposure!

Anyone who wants to share their creativity with us wish to get national and international exposure can submit their work 

Rules and regulations: 
  • The logo must include the following themes: Astronomy, Education & Nepal and should reflect the 5th National Astronomy Olympiad 2018
  • Submitted designs must contain the original idea/creation of the designer. 
  • The design must be submitted at olympiad[at]nepalastronomicalsociety.org
  • The logo should be 600 x 600 pixels in size. 
  • Designer must submit the his/her logo in no more than 200 words. Design without description will not be accepted for competition. 

For more information 

Saturday, September 16, 2017

Win A Telescope: Space Art Competition 2017!

We are pleased to announce Space Art Competition 2017 on the special occasion of 5th National Science Day 2017 here in Nepal. The competition open for the students till October 10, 2017 November 15, 2017.


Space Art Competition is a way to connect our attempt to celebrate both National Science Day and World Space Week in Nepal with students. It is an opportunity to students studying till class 8 to share their passion for space and arts and win a telescope!




Rules of the competition:
  • The competition is open to all the students currently studying at basic school level (upto class 8)
  • Must be your own creation
  • Size of the poster should be A3 (29.7cm x 42cm)
  • Scan copy of the work should be send with a subject line: NASO Space Art Competition 2017 to info.naso [at] gmail.com
  • Only short-listed works will be requested to be sent to Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO), P.O. Box 21229, Kathmandu, Nepal
  • Name, class, gender and name of the school should be mentioned in the top of poster
  • One submission per registration
  • Submission without registration payment will not be considered for the evaluation
Important information:
Submission Open: September 17, 2017
Submission Deadline: October 10, 2017 November 15, 2017
Registration Fee: NRs 200/-

Wondering how to complete registration of your students, children? Feel free to call us at 01-4110344 or send us your queries in our facebook page.

For more information about our world space week program, click here.


Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Congratulations to Selected Astronomy Olympiad Teachers for 2017!

Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO) is pleased to announce the result of 5th National Call for Astronomy Olympiad Teacher Training 2017. The selected teachers will get an opportunity to attend Astronomy Olympiad Exposure Camp 2017 which will be held at Homi Bhabha Center for Science Education (HBCSE),Mumbai,India during October 31-November 3, 2017.


After careful review of all the applications received, following applicants were selected based on their motivations, CVs and recommendations/nominations letter from their respective institutions.

  1. Mr. Anup Dahal, Shree Sarba Secondary School, Bhimeshwor, Dolakha
  2. Mr. Aatmaram Tiwari, Everest English Boarding H. S. School, Biratnagar, Morang
  3. Mr. Niraj Lamichhane, Aroma English Secondary School, Bharatpur, Chitwan
  4. Mr. Riwaj Neupane, Deerwalk Sifal School, Jayabageshwori, Kathmandu
  5. Mr. Teju Ram Sunar, Siral Galaxy Academy, Pokhara, Kaski
We express our sincere thanks to all the teachers who applied for this program but could not get selected! We understand your expression of interest to join our program and would recommend you to visit our website for upcoming opportunities!

Friday, August 25, 2017

A Decade of Astronomy & Space Science: Celebrating 10th Anniversary in Nepal

We celebrated our 10th Anniversary today with our volunteers, members and high students at Ankur Vidhyashram. The journey was definately not an easy one, but we learnt a lot through this decedal experience and look forward to implement our experience to create better opportunities for the youth and students in Nepal.

Mr. Pushpa Raj Sapkota, chief guest of the event  and principal at Ankur Vidhyashram praised our work engaging school students in our different activities and shared the improvement in their classroom behaviour. He also requested us to help students to guide them to their astronomy discussion forum that they are going to organized during October-November 2017.

Photo 1: Mr. Suresh Bhattarai, chairman at NASO sharing the major achievements with the participants of the gathering. (From left: Mr. Suresh Bhattarai, Mr. Pushpa Raj Sapkota, Mr. Samaya Khadka)
During the event, Mr. Samaya Khadka,one of the closed camp participants of our 4th National Astronomy Olympiad 2017 shared his experience at our astronomy olympiad to the students. He also explain the need of science communication with public and students to make science a fun.

National Astronomy Olympiad program was initiated in 2014 and become of the fastest growing talent hunt program in Nepal with its holistic approach to select students as a national winners!

Photo 2: Group photo of the participants of the gathering after the cake cutting ceremony
During the event, we also discussed on some of our proposed initiatives/programs and how we can make them more compatible to our students. We highlighted the need of more capacity building programs in coming days to strengthen our network in Nepal and abroad creating more opportunities for our youths and students.

Photo 3: Sudip Bhattrai, Assistant Professor, Aerospace at IOE, Pulchowk and Mr. Suresh Bhattarai, Chairman brainstroming on how we can improve our space programs in coming days
As we realised unless we train our students to build their confidence as well as skills we are not going to help for the development, we decided to partner with different academic institutions in Nepal and organizations in Nepal and abroad. We have already tested some of our academic partnership projects with engineering students at TU and we look forward to implement our program/s for physics students at TU in coming days.

We would like to express our sincere thanks to all our executives, members and well-wishers for their contribution to make this day a reality!

Sunday, August 20, 2017

Terranaut First Selection Result For Nepal is Now Available!

We are pleased to announce the list of selected participants for project Terranaut in partnership with Terraztra Space Exploration. A total of 652 participants are selected from the pool of applicants who applied to this program till July 31, 2017! 

The selected participants are eligible for the next round in the campaign dedicated to Nepal. The list includes 6 members who are marked in green will have advantage over the other 646 participants in the next round.


The preliminary selection were done in following ways
  • Psychological confidence was given importance along with determination.
  • 50% of them were considered on their experience in space field.
  • Matching of behavior patterns with Artificial intelligence recognition of the words used.
  • Language was not considered as part of selection (Rejection was done based on bad grammar mistakes or English skills).
  • Age, Education, Gender and Disability were not considered as part of the selection process.
You can click here to find the full list of selected participants.

Those who missed to apply during Nepal call can still apply for the program during its global call! The global release of the project will be available on October 4, 2017!


Terraztra Space Exploration provides a beautiful opportunity to train like a Yuri Gagarin for 14 people from anywhere in the world, selected through a worldwide process that will be released on October 2017 dedicated for the 60th Anniversary of sputnik. These 14 people will be provided flight tickets to visit moscow during June, 2018 (period of FIFA 2018) to train like “Yuri Gagarin”. They will be able to ride tanks , eat space food and off course wear space suit. The best performer of these 14 people will have an opportunity to see the Edge of Space. Apart from these 14 people there will be lot of space souvenirs and Drones to be won during the entire event.


History changed on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. The world’s first artificial satellite was about the size of a beach ball (58 cm.or 22.8 inches in diameter), weighed only 83.6 kg. or 183.9 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path.

Saturday, August 19, 2017

Teej and Science: Meet and Greet 2017 held in Kathmandu!

While women are celebrating Teej Festival with their regular groups/families/friends, we decided to host a different meeting where we discuss about science together with festive flavour in Kathmandu today!

Photo: Participants posing for group photo after the "Teej & Science: Meet & Greet 2017" held today. Credit: NASO
Today, Teej and Science: Meet and Greet 2017 was held at My choice Restaurant, Lazimpat, Kathmandu. The event was organized by Women in Astronomy Nepal (WIAN) at Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO) and supported by Sano Sansar Youth Hostel- Only for Girls.

During the event, participants discussed different problems they faced while studying/teaching/reporting science. Participants of the event were primary level science teacher, secondary level science teacher, university level science teacher, students and journalists selected based on their active profile in the society.

The meeting also stressed the need of making classroom more interactive to make science interesting among students. The gathering was first kind in Nepal as per the participants. the meeting was moderated by Ms. Manisha Dwa, coordinator of WIAN and project coordinator/board of directors at NASO.

Participants agreed to utilize the local resources for science teaching and consult with NASO for any difficulties in coming days. Mr Suresh Bhattarai, Chairman at NASO expressed his committment for the practical/implicable proposals from the gathering today and from follow-up meeting in next few weeks.

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

5th National Call for Astronomy Olympiad Teacher Training 2017!

Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO) is pleased to announce 5th National Call for "Astronomy Olympiad Teacher Training 2017" to select teachers who will help the organizing National Astronomy Olympiad Organizing Committee- Nepal to organize 5th National Astronomy Olympiad 2018- Nepal.

Among all the applicants, five best applicants will be selected based on their motivation, academic history and interviews (both telephone and in person). 


Application without nomination letter from the college is not valid

They will participate in the upcoming Astronomy Olympiad Exposure Camp 2017 which will be held at Homi Bhabha Center for Science Education (HBCSE),Mumbai,India during October 31-November 3, 2017.

What is the objective of this Training?
The primary objective of this training is to select the five best applicants who will assist NASO to organize its astronomy olympiad in 2018. It also aims at productive interaction of our selected candidates at regional level (SAARC) with Olympiad activity at its focus.

What will be there at the training at HBCSE,Mumbai, India?
It will consist of various exposure sessions on theory, data analysis problems as well as night sky observation sessions. Tentative topics include celestial mechanics, observational astronomy, positional astronomy and observable properties of stars.

Who can apply? 
Anyone who has completed their masters degree in physics (preferrably with major astrophysics) and currently working as a physics faculty at one of the high school in Nepal can apply.

What will be the cost of participation?
Selected candidates will be reimbursed to and fro travel fare as per the entitlement (Maximum II AC). Food and accommodation in the HBCSE Guest House will be provided. During the workshop, one may visit HBCSE laboratories, library, History of Science Exhibition, HBCSE “books for sale” section, etc.

How to apply?
Interested candidate need to send

  • one page motivation letter
  • latest CV with photo and contact number
  • nomination letter from their institute/college 

to contact@nepalastronomicalsociety.org by 5:00 PM, Friday, August 25, 2017. Incomplete application will not be processed for the selection round!

When will be the selection result available?
The result will be announced at our website on Tuesday, August 29, 2017 and provided with further instruction on the participation in India.

If you need any assistance while preparing your application, please feel free to call our office number 01-4110344 from 10:00 am till 5:00 pm during Sunday-Friday! You can also send your queries to our facebook page.

Looking forward to welcome your application!

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Partial Lunar Eclipse Observed from Kathmandu!

A group of astronomy enthusiasts managed to observed the partial lunar eclipse last night despite of cloudy weather in Kathmandu. The observation program was organized at Ankur Vidhyashram, Bijay Chowk, Gausala during 10:00 PM till 01:00 AM (next day). Though it was a very late night event, we had several visitors to enjoy the eclipse with us.

Photo 1: Psoter for the observation program as advertised in our facebook page: www.fb.com/NepalAstronomicalSociety/

Photo 2: Group of visitor representing three generations (grand father, mother/father, son) waiting for clear weather at NASO office during the observation time.

Photo 3: Partial eclipse as seen from Kathmandu valley and captured by Ms. Manisha Dwa with her Canon 600D camera  
We used our 8 inch skywatcher dobsonian for the observation of the lunar eclipse where visitors also enjoyed the craters on moon and photographying themselves with telescopes!

We look forward to bring you more astronomical observing experience in coming days! Stay with us!

Note: NASO is hosted by Sano Sansar Youth Hostel (www.fb.com/sanosansarYH) and share premises with Ankur Vidhyashram located at Bijay Chowk, Gausala, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Friday, August 4, 2017

Nepal participates ITCA Colloquium in Thailand!

Eight teachers from different schools from Nepal will participate in the upcoming ITCA Colloquium 'Astronomy for STEM Education' in Bangkok, Thailand during August 7-11, 2017!
A pre-departure meeting was held at in Kathmandu to discuss and identify the common problems and strength of our school network in order to uptimize the knowldge that they will be getting from the colloquium.

Following a call by National Astronomical Research of Thailand (NARIT) in May, Nepali teachers applied for the program and eight of them are invited to become a part of this unique gathering of 100 Science Teachers / Educators worldwide. The deadline for application was July 10, 2017! Selected teacheres were notified via email on July 15 and confirmed their participation by July 21, 2017!

The selected teachers and their affiliations are as listed below (alfabetical order):
  1. Anil Parajuli, Chhahari Shikshya Sadan School , Jorpati, Kathmandu
  2. Gopal Niraula, Sushma Secondary School, Itahari, Sundari
  3. Hari Kumar Ghimire, Tri-Chandra Multiple Campus, Ghantaghar, Kathmandu
  4. Khagendra Katuwal, Private School, PABSON
  5. Sagar Dahal, The Celebration Co-Ed School, Kathmandu
  6. Sushil Bhattarai, Arunima Educational Foundation (AEF), Bouddha, Kathmandu
  7. Tulsi Acharya, KU City College, Chabahil, Kathmandu
  8. Yagya Raj Joshi, Ankur Vidhyashram, Gausala, Kathmandu
Er. Rishi Shah, Academician and Mr. Shekhar Shah, former chief and member secretary at Nepal Academy of  Science and Technology (NAST) shared on the role of NAST as a facilitator for the  initiatives of the teachers if they are really serious for teaching science in Nepal.

During the meeting Mr. Suresh Bhattarai, Chairman and Ms. Manisha Dwa, project coordinator at Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO) shared their experience on how we can get most out of such events and implement the ideas back in Nepal.

The meeting decided Mr. Anil Parajuli as a leader/focal point of conact for Nepali Delegation. Lets congratulate him and we hope he will be able to bring more from the training as discussed today!

The team is ready to fly to Bangkok on August 6, 2017 via Thai Airways to take part in the colloquium. Selected participants will get support for their local hospitality (hotel/travel/food, etc related to the event) while they have to take care of their expenses travel/visa/insurance on their own.

We wish the delegation for a successful participation next week!

Monday, July 17, 2017

4th National Astronomy Olympiad 2017 Winners Announced!

We are pleased to announced the winners of our 4th National Astronomy Olympiad 2017 (NAO2017) which was held during January-July in Nepal.

The winners of NAO2017 are:
  • Bijaya Chandra Luitel, Chelsea International Academy, New Baneshwor, Kathmandu
  • Tarun timalsina, Gandaki Boarding School, Pokhara, Kaski
  • Bivek Lal Karn, Dhanusha science campus, Janakpur, Dhanusha
  • Binaya Raj Paudyal, Capital College and Research Center - CCRC, Koteshwor, Kathmandu
  • Anubhav Sharma, Rato Bangala School, Patandhoka, Lalitpur

Upon hearing the selection, the winners expressed their feeling with us as:

Bijaya Chanra Luitel, First winner/Absolute Winner
"Taking part in NAO2017 was a fantastic experience! It was wonderful to meet new faces after the incredible experience of last year. It felt incredible to come in the top 5 again and I can safely say I have gained many more valuable experiences over the course of this Olympiad session."

Tarun Timalsina, Second Winner
Thanks to the olympiad, my interest in astronomy and astrophysics has today developed into some level of expertise. If not for the olympiad, students like me who are passionate about astronomy would not have had this level of exposure. I'm really grateful that I was a part of the olympiad.

Bivek Lal Karn, Third Winner
I am very very happy to know that I'm selected in top five winners in NAO2017. First of all I thank my parents then my teachers , friends and all those who supported me to make this happen! NAO2017 gave an unforgettable experience and lots of things to learn. Thanks to NASO for creating such a beautiful platform for astronomy enthusiast.

Binaya Raj Paudyal, Fourth Winner
I am delighted being top five in prestigious and competitive, Annual Astronomy competition: 4th National Astronomy Olympiad 2017. Standing as top five students among well-deserving and equally-talented participating friends is a blissful experience.

Anubhav Sharma, Fifth Winner
Being a national winner was one of the happiest moments of my life and it has inspired me to explore more about the mysterious universe. Also, I feel a sense of responsibility that I should use my knowledge to contribute to society in any ways possible.

Congratulations to all five students for their great success! We look forward to your active participation in upcoming astronomy olympiads as possible.

The final ranks of students at closed camp is as listed below:

Winners and the participants of the closed camp will be awarded certificates and medals during a special function in Kathmandu, Nepal!

Looking forward to take part in our 5th National Astronomy Olympiad 2018? 
Don't forget to subscribe us at our facebook page or visit our website for more updates: www.nepalastronomicalsociety.org

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Project Terranaut is Live for Nepal now!

Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO) in association with Terraztra Space Exploration is pleased to announce Project Terranaut, a global outreach initiative providing an opportunity to 14 people to train like a Yuri Gagarin in Russia and one of the best performer to go to Edge of the Space for free, in Nepal! The pre-registration is now available at www.terraztra.space and will remain open till July 31, 2017 and free to all Nepalese.  



We signed an MoU with Terraztra Space Exploration to select top three scorers from Nepal to be trained like a cosmonaut in Russia during FIFA World Cup 2018. The training program will be of 10-25 days. Details will be available after the final selection.

How to participate in the program?
·         Pre-register at www.terraztra.space by july 31, 2017
·         Download Mobile App that wil be released on October 4, 2017 and participate in the different contest available!
·         Top three scorers will be selected to participate in the astronaut training in Russia during FIFA World Cup 2018

Who are eligible?
·         Anyone who are between 18-65 years of age
·         Must be a Nepali citizen

Among the fourteen selected participants, one will be choosen to fly to the 'Edge of Space'.

Friday, June 30, 2017

Asteroid Day Nepal 2017 remains a great success!

Toay, we had a special Asteroid Day event in association with Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) at its auditarium hall with ~200 participants!


High school students were from Himalaya Vidya Mandir Higher Secondary School and Bright Land English Higher Secondary School while the participants included officials from different professional organisations in Nepal.

Chief Guest Er. Rishi Shah, academician at NAST and patron at NASO highlighted the importance of science and technology for the development of the nation and the role that everyone living in the society has equal role to build our society for better life on earth.

Ms. Manisha Dwa, WIAN/UNAWE-Nepal and project coordinator at NASO highlighted the need of  women engagement for better science community in the country!

Then the program went through a different environment for the video and documentary show at the academic hall of NAST. The documentary covered various topics like;
  • Size of our solar system(in two different style of explanation)
  • Short video about Chelyabinsk incidence and shockwaves.
  • Brief introduction about how asteroid really had killed the dinosaurs.
  • Recreating an asteroid strike that Killed dinosaurs – a lab experiment video by NASA.
  • Impact records from 2000 to 2013 – demography on daily incidents.
After the documentary series, Mr. Suresh Bhattarai, Chairman of NASO, gave an excellent speech on "The mitigation measures during Asteroid attack, and also talked about civil defenses and future awareness programs. After the speech, we had a ten-minute break for the tea and snacks. Then considering queries form participants we had another session called Interaction program about asteroid and related areas. So, participants had Interaction with  Er.Rishi Shah, Mr. Suresh Bhattarai and Ms. Manisha Dwa. Participants from the different background raised series of queries.

Participants from 4th National Astronomy Olympiad 2017 closed camp were introduced to the audience and provided an opportunity to explore NAST and National Forensic Science Laboratory which is closed to the event venue.

The program was designated to be finished between two hours but it lasted for another one and half-hour. Our team could feel the demand of the program to be continued on but we stopped there and gave a promise to bring such program again in the future.

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Nepal Review: Global Space Exploration Conference 2017!

 Submitted by
 Er. Anmol Mittal, Nepal

The Global Space Exploration Conference (GLEX 2017) I attended discussed recent results, current challenges, and innovative solutions on to advancing human space exploration. The conference brought together leaders and decision-makers within the science and human exploration community- engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, educators, agency representatives, policy makers. The conference was organized by International Astronautical Federation (IAF) in Beijing International Congress Center, Beijing, China from 6-9th June, 2017.

As a young aerospace engineer, who wants to explore and learn about space technologies, I jumped at the opportunity of travelling all the way to China to attend this conference. A small change in direction at the start ends you up on a totally different path in the end. To give my unfolding career a direction, influenced by upcoming challenges and opportunities, was the main motive for attending GLEX 2017. Over 1000 attendees made the journey to Beijing from 51 countries. Heads of space agencies, Cosmosnauts, Taikonauts and Moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, came together to discuss the challenges of space exploration from all different perspectives. I had the wonderful opportunity of meeting some distinguished people from the space industry, to name a few: 
  • Gilbert Kirkham, Director, Science division, NASA
  • Rob Chambers, human space flight, commercial civil space, from Lockheed Martin
  • Brent Sherwood, program manager, Solar system mission formulation from JPL.
  • Didier Morancais, Key account manager, Science/ Exploration & CNES from Airbus 
  • Dr. Peng Xia, researcher, AIST
  • Zihua Zhu, Asia-Pacific Regional coordinator, SGAC
I was able to discuss, with them, about my interests in the field of aerospace and the potential it holds in upcoming future. Meeting such people opened up new dimensions in my mind regarding numerous opportunities in the space industry. The conference was organized in a professional manner and addressed major issues concerning the space industry. There were 329 abstracts from 22 different countries, all of which were categorized into following categories:
  • Scientific Objective and Infrastructure of Space Exploration
  • Space Laboratory, Space Station and Space Exploration
  • Lunar Exploration
  • Exploration of Near Earth Asteroids
  • Mars Exploration
  • Exploration of Other Destination
  • Entering into Space and New Energy and Propulsion Technology
  • Key Technology of Space Exploration
  • Challenges of Life Support - Medical Support for Manned Space Exploration
  • Values and New Models for Space Exploration
  • Law Issues and Public Awareness Related to Space Exploration
  • International Cooperation for Space Exploration
  • Small Satellites
The presentations were delivered in a professional manner and with utmost proficiency. Although I couldn’t attend all the oral presentations, due to clash of their timings, but having the chance of attending even some of them was exhilarating.

Day 1: Will space exploration lead us to a global space agency?
The Global space exploration conference officially opened with a welcome address by Li Yuanchao, Vice-President of People’s republic of China, who read a note from Xi Jinping, President of People’s republic of China stating that: “China is ready to strengthen cooperation with the international community for a better future for human kind”.

This Chinese call to cooperation has been the main focus of the Heads of Agency Plenary where the idea of global space agency has been analyzed. Roberto Battiston, President of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), Pascale Ehrenfreund, Chair of the Executive Board of German Aerospace Center (DLR) joined the discussion with their views on the various aspects of unified and separate space agencies.
Photo 1: ESA DG Jan Woerner presents the Moon Village concept; Credits: SpaceWatch Middle East
Day 2: Mars- Moon: How do we get there?
The significance of global cooperation and international partnerships for efficient space exploration was further explored on the second day by the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG). Importance of individual and collective space exploration was indeed discussed in a detailed manner. 

Another question which rose was: should we explore Mars or Moon? Different space agencies held different views but I found the view point of Russian delegates convincing, which stated: “interrogation should be centered on the direction rather than the destination”.

Last but not the least, the luminary Buzz Aldrin showed us the plan, he has been devising for last 30 years, to travel to Mars, which is also in its final stage of completion. Personally, this was part which left me on the edge of my seat during the entire time period of the presentation. 

Photo 2: Dr Buzz Aldrin presents the Mars cycler concept; Credits: SpaceWatch Middle East
Day 3: Space exploration- A common goal
The last day of GLEX marked the end of intense three day exposure to international scientific community. I believe all of us, who are devoting our lives to space exploration, are searching answers to the fundamental questions in the Universe: Who are we? Are we alone? Where do we come from? 

It was an excellent opportunity to gather, interact and exchange findings of such influencing people and views during conference sessions, coffee breaks and conference dinner. Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Ugur Guven for giving me the opportunity to attend GLEX 2017 via their conference funding which covered the part of expenses.

Note: This report is influenced by the media report of GLEX 2017 by SPACEWATCH middle east.

Wednesday, June 7, 2017

XIX WORLD FESTIVAL OF YOUTH AND STUDENTS RUSSIA, October 14-22, 2017

Today, we had an opportunity to attend an information session about the 'XIX World Festival of Youth and Students2017' which will be held in Sochi, Russia during October 14-22, 2017. The organizers are expecting  to bring more than 20,000 of young people from 150 countries around the world making it the  largest event in the field of international youth cooperation. The National Preparatory Committee- Nepal members shared that they are planning to take 250 youths while Ministry of Youth and Sports, Government of Nepal will have 30 members national delegation under the leadership of Minister of Youth and sports to the festival this year.

Photo: Group photo with the Government and RCSC officials after the meeting [From left: Ms. Manisha Dwa, project coordinator at NASO, Mr. Anton Maslov, deputy director at RCSC-Kathmandu, Mr. Suresh Bhattarai, chairman-NASO, Mr. Stanislav Simakov, director at RCSC-Kathmandu and Mr. Mahendra Paudel, under-secretary at Ministry of Youth & Sports, Government of Nepal]
Russian Center of Science and Culture- Kathmandu (RCSC-Kathmandu) organised the information session in order to spread the information regarding the festival among more nepalese youths. Repreentatives from the National Preparatry Committee-Nepal and Ministry of Youth and Sports, Government of Nepal answered questions from the audience related to the festival. They shared that the registration was opened in September 2016, and representatives of more than 120 countries have already registered for the event!

The deadline for the registration is 10th June 2017
Click here to register now!

RCSC-Kathmandu highlighted that Russia has always payed great attention to the creation of conditions for the development of the young generation and supports youth and student movements. And this festival will create a new history for such achievement. In the entire history of the festival, the country already opened the doors twice to its participants - in 1957 and 1985. 

World Youth Festival will unite the community of young leaders in various fields - representatives of NGOs, youth, who achieved success in science, art, sports, pedagogy, IT, politics, and best representatives of the student community, compatriots and foreigners who are interested in Russian culture. Cultural dialog, economics, globalization, politics, and international security, are among the themes of the festival. 

Who can apply for the festival?
Anyone who have the see him/herself fits with the below criteria are eligible to apply for the festival.
  • Have an active life position 
  • Are from 18 to 35 years 
  • Have your own favorite practice 
  • Respect the interest of your country 
  • Consider yourself as the part of the global community 
And belong to the one of the categories: 
  • Leaders of the youth NGOs 
  • Young journalists 
  • Creative, artistic young people (musicians, writers, artists, directors, etc.) 
  • Leaders of sports club 
  • Young engineers 
  • Leaders of youth organization of political parties 
  • Young university teachers 
  • Leaders of student government 
  • Young scientists ( social, humanitarian, economic, natural and technical sciences) 
  • Young entrepreneurs 
  • Compatriots 
  • Young foreigners who study Russian language and are interested in Russian culture 

How to apply from Nepal?
  • Click here to fill up the application for participation (*Please fill in all the fields correctly!
  • After the registration, send your Full Name, Date of Birth/Age, Hobby and Professional Interests:Culture & History/Ecomony/Politics/International Security/ealth: addressing HIV/AIDS, Maleria/ Sports/Education Science/ IT/ Art Creativity/Journalism, Media to ruscult@subisu.net.np
  • Your application will be sent to National Preparatory Committee of Nepal
  • You will be invited to participate according to the results of the selection of the applications
Why you should participate?

You  should participate to experience: 
  • Visa-free entry
  • Meals, hotel accommodations, access to all educational, cultural and sports fields at  the expense of the host country
  • A unique educational and discussion program with the participation of the world-class professionals 
  • Real applied skills in master classes and creative workshops 
  • Complexity of Russian culture: ballet, ice show, film festival, jazz festival, circus program 
  • Life-style program: street dances, healthy lifestyle, jogging, hitting a qualifying standards of the "Ready to Work and Defense", extreme park, musical subcultures 
  • Acquaintance with like-minded people and colleagues from 150 countries 
  • Participation in a grand international youth event
Expenses you need to bear on your own:
  • Round-trip airfare from Nepal to Russia
  • Travel Insurance and other personal expenses

The deadline for the registration is 10th June 2017
Click here to register now!

For more information about the festival, please feel free to visit the official webiste of the festival: 
www.russia2017.com

Please note that neither NASO or RCSC-Kathmandu are involved in the selection process. Registration will be taken via official website only and the selection will be done by the organising committee of the festival only.

Excited to be a part of it? Apply today!


Thursday, May 11, 2017

Global Call for Support: Fund-Raising Campaign to Support Capacity Building for a Public school in Parbat!

We would like to draw your attention to support our fund-raising campaign for Bhawani Vidyapeeth Secondary School, Phalebas in Parbat district as possible. 

As we understand that when you invest money, you are always want to make sure that your money has reached to the right place for right cause, your contribution will be listed in the official website of the school. 

While the school management is struggling to manage the fund for the upgrade the education system at the school, we decided to help them reaching out to you with this a crowd-funding campaign. 

Your small support can bring big change to the educational opportunity of the kids in this village. click here to donate!

We first came in contact with this school in 2010 for the first time with the proposal of our outreach program at the school. After our meeting with Mr. Bhola Nath Sharma, social activist and chairman of School Management Committee (SMC) we decided to conduct an outreach activity at the school on November 13, 2010. After that we had several visits to the schools, donated one galileoscope (Dec 6, 2012) to encoourage secondary level students for astronomy and invited secondary level teacher/s to our Galileo Teacher Training Program (GTTP) in 2012 (Kathmandu), 2013 (Pokhara) and 2015 (Pokhara).


While visiting the school, we have realised that the primary section of the school needs a real boost and guidance. After several meetings with Bhola Nath Sharma in Kathmandu, we decided to support the fund raising for capacity building to build strong pre-primary and primary wings at the school as one of our education programs and Universe Awareness (UNAWE) activities in Nepal.


The fund raised will directly goes to the bank account of the school and will support capacity building program for three years.

Your small support can bring big change to the educational opportunity of the kids in this village. click here to donate!

Thank you very much for your generous support!

Sunday, April 9, 2017

Winners of 'Student Drawing Workshop on Lunar Exploration 2016' Will Be Awarded on April 12, 2017!

In February, 2016, we organised student drawing workshop on lunar exploration where students expressed their ideas on their perception of lunar exploration! Among all the participants four students were identifed as the winners and scheduled to be awarded during April 2016 as a part of our celebration of International Day of Cosmonautics and Aviation at Russian Center of Science and Culture (RCSC)-Kathmandu.

This month, those students who did their best performance during the workshop will be awarded on Wednesday, April 12, 2017 at a special ceremony at RCSC-Kathmandu as a part of our celebration of International Day of Human Space Flight 2017 in Nepal.

Want to know the winners and their drawings? Here you go:
First Position: Aayushi Sapkota (10), class 4, Ankur Vidhyashram, Bijay Chowk, Gausala, Kathmandu

Second Position: Rabgyen Sonam Moktan (10), class 4, The Insight Vision Higher Scondary School, Sukedhara, Kathmandu.

Third Position: Rajaram Khatiwada (12), class 4, The Celebration Co-Ed School, Jorpati, Kathmandu

Forth Position: Susan Magar (12), class 4, Ankur Vidhyashram, Bijay Chowk, Gausala, Kathmandu

Selected students will be awarded certificates and medals on April 12, 2017 at RCSC, Kathmandu during a special program to celebrate International Day of Human Space Flight 2017.