Easwari Engineering College Students Win Global Honour at NASA Space Apps Challenge 2025
Chennai: Students of Easwari Engineering College, Ramapuram, Chennai, have brought international recognition to India by winning a prestigious award at the NASA International Space Apps Challenge 2025, the world’s largest hackathon organised by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The student team, Photonics Odyssey, was named among the top 10 global winners out of 18,860 teams from 167 countries. Notably, it was the only winning project with Indian participation, earning the Most Inspirational Award for its innovative and socially impactful solution.
The winning team included Rajalingam N, Prasanth Gopalakrishnan, Rashi Menon, and Sakthi Sanjeev Kumar (II Year, Electronics and Communication Engineering), along with Deeraj Kumar and Manish Varma D (III Year, Computer Science Engineering – Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning).
Their project proposed a satellite-based internet infrastructure model designed to expand high-speed connectivity to remote and underserved regions. The solution was recognised for its technical robustness, innovation, and potential for global social impact.
Earlier selected as Global Finalists, the team was chosen as winners by an Executive Committee comprising senior leaders from NASA and 14 international space agency partners, including ISRO and the European Space Agency (ESA).
The competition involved multiple rounds of evaluation by industry experts, CEOs from companies such as Google, Tesla, and Autodesk, and executive panels featuring NASA engineers and scientists, along with leaders from Meta, NVIDIA, and Walmart. Teams from globally renowned institutions including UC Irvine, University of Waterloo, and University of Wisconsin also participated.
Easwari Engineering College felicitated the students, highlighting the achievement as a reflection of the institution’s focus on research-led learning and interdisciplinary innovation.
This accomplishment underscores India’s growing prominence in technology, innovation, and space research, while showcasing the ability of Indian students to excel on the world’s most competitive platforms.
Launched in 2012, the NASA International Space Apps Challenge has grown into one of the world’s largest collaborative platforms for STEM innovation, encouraging participants worldwide to solve real-world challenges using NASA’s open data.
