Gülce Erayman, Fatma Önkol, Ceylin Erayman and Benan Özcan, students at a private school in Gaziantep, won second place worldwide in the International Space Settlement Design Competition organized by NASA.
The “From the Island to NASA” community was included in a 12-member team comprising international students in the competition with its “Human-Crewed Spacecraft Design to Venus” project. The team ranked among the competition’s top four.
The final was held in Florida
The students representing Türkiye won second place worldwide with their project at the final held in the U.S. state of Florida from July 29 to August 3.
Team captain Gülce Erayman said it was a source of pride to represent Türkiye in a major space competition. Erayman explained that they took part in the final online because of several setbacks and that team members who could not travel to the United States remained in constant contact with their teammates and supervising teachers.
Erayman said the students who participated online presented the sections they had prepared to the other team members, while their teammates represented them at the final in Florida.
First place missed by 2.5 points
Team member Fatma Önkol said they had confidence in the project they had worked on for a year and that finishing second worldwide did not surprise them. Önkol said the result was a source of pride, but that they had missed first place by 2.5 points.
Önkol said that although the team consisted of 12 members, having only eight students compete in the final put them at a disadvantage. The students were also invited to next year’s competition program.
New spacecraft projects are planned
Önkol said the students planned to develop new spacecraft projects rather than add to the project with which they won second place worldwide.
Another team member, Ceylin Erayman, also expressed her satisfaction with the achievement and said they wanted to continue representing Türkiye in competitions of this kind.
Erayman said that, in addition to project presentations, networking and promotional events were held during the finals from July 29 to August 3. At the final, where the competition’s CEO and NASA engineers served as jurors, the teams were asked questions about their projects and their work was reviewed.
