Ritika Dhruw, a 16-year-old tribal girl from a small hamlet in the Mahasamund district of Chhattisgarh, has made a remarkable achievement by impressing scientists from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Andhra Pradesh, with her presentation on the topic “Vacuum in space then.. how NASA found the sound from a black hole,” which has earned her a spot on a NASA project.
She was chosen for the International Astronomical Search Collaboration’s and NASA’s Citizen Science Project’s Asteroid Search Campaign. Ritika, who is studying in the 11th grade at Swami Atmanand Government English School (SAGES), Nayapara, Mahasamund, 60 kilometres from the state capital Raipur, hails from the historically and religiously significant Sirpur town.
“Ritika had taken part in the hunt for asteroids and was chosen.
Ritika, our inquisitive little child, who has shown a strong interest in space since she was a young child, shone. She excelled in Bilaspur as a team representative and athlete.
She will join an asteroid-hunting camp at ISRO later in the month of November 2022 after a weeklong training, according to her. She used to participate in online tests on asteroids and space, winning high praise from the experts. But her speech at the occasion in Bilaspur ended up being a turning moment.
