CHENNAI: Students of the city-based Easwari Engineering College have brought global recognition to the country by winning an honour 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, emerged as one of the top ten global winners among 18,860 teams from 167 countries, making it the only winning project with Indian participation. The team received the Most Inspirational Award for their innovative and socially impactful solution.
The winning team comprised 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).
The students developed a satellite-based internet infrastructure model aimed at expanding high-speed connectivity to remote and underserved regions. The project was recognised for its innovation, technical robustness and potential for global social impact.
Earlier selected as global finalists, the team was subsequently chosen as winners by an executive committee consisting of senior leaders from NASA and 14 international space agency partners, including ISRO and the European Space Agency (ESA). Accordingly, Easwari Engineering College felicitated the students in recognition of their achievement on Monday.
The accomplishment stands as a testament to India's growing prominence in technology, innovation and space research, and underscores the capability of Indian students to compete at the highest global platforms.
Launched in 2012, the NASA International Space Apps Challenge is an annual global hackathon that encourages participants worldwide to solve real-world challenges using NASA's open data. Over the years, it has evolved into one of the world's largest collaborative platforms for STEM innovation.