Jalpaiguri, November 29 (Siliguri Chronicle) – Students of Jalpaiguri Government Engineering College (JGEC) celebrated 10 of their alumni who contributed to ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 mission by hosting a rocket-launch competition on campus on Friday.
The event was part of ‘Start Srishti’, the college’s annual tech fest running from November 26 to 30. The programme was organised jointly by the mechanical, electrical, and civil engineering departments.
A student organiser said the event, called ‘Sputnik’, was dedicated to the 10 JGEC alumni working at ISRO.
“They were part of India’s lunar mission team. Sputnik was organised to honour them,” said Shatabrata Chatterjee, a third-year mechanical engineering student.
Participants crafted rockets from plastic bottles fitted with fins. The bottles were filled to about 70 percent with water and pressurised with air using hand pumps. The sudden release of pressure propelled the makeshift rockets high into the air across the field.
During the competition, the college grounds resembled a mock launch site, with water-powered rockets soaring across and students rushing to measure their landing distances using ribbons and lime powder.
“There were 50 participants, and one rocket travelled over 500 metres,” an organiser said.
Debapriya Majhi, a second-year electrical engineering student, said the event inspired students to explore low-cost engineering innovations.
“Space missions cost a lot. We built rockets using only water and air pressure. It’s a basic preparation for creating a real spacecraft at low cost. One day, Indian scientists may develop a sophisticated version of this method,” he said.
Joint coordinators Ankit Ghosh and Sourshish Ghatak said that over 100 students from Kalyani, Alipurduar, Cooch Behar, Siliguri, and other institutions took part in the fest.
JGEC principal Amitabh Roy said the involvement of 10 alumni in Chandrayaan-3 was a proud moment for the college.
Chandrayaan-3 is the third mission in ISRO’s Chandrayaan programme, a series of lunar exploration missions. The spacecraft was launched in 2023.
“The technology the students used today is playful, but if a modern version of this concept is developed, it can benefit the country,” Roy said.
