SUST team 'Olik' won the award in the 'Best Use of Data' category and is set to visit the Nasa headquarters

The Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) won Nasa's 2018 International Space Apps Challenge.

NASA on Saturday announced the names of six teams who came out on top in six separate categories. The champion teams are set to visit the NASA headquarters.

SUST team “Olik” won the award in the "Best Use of Data" category.

Olik's project was a Lunar VR that allows users to virtually explore the landing site of Apollo 11, orbit the moon with the LRO satellite, and also observe the eclipse from the lunar surface.

The team collected 3D models and information from various resources of Nasa.

Team members Kazi Mainul Islam from the physics department, and Rafi Adnan, Abu Sadik Mehedi and Sabbir Hasan from the geography and environmental sciences department said they were proud to represent Bangladesh in a global competition.

Biswaprio Chakrabarti, the team’s coach, said the achievement was great news for Bangladesh.

Posts, Telecommunications and ICT Minister Mustafa Jabbar expressed their delight regarding the achievement.

Minister Mustafa Jabbar said, " Youth lead Team Olik from Shahjalal University of Science & Technology has made us proud. BASIS under the initiative of BASIS Students’ Forum has been organizing NASA Space Apps Challenge every year. This is another benchmark in the development of Digital Bangladesh."

Regarding this achievement BASIS President Syed Almas Kabir said, "This year our aim was to do better than the other sessions. BASIS is working relentlessly in the process of building Digital Bangladesh."

Team Olik’s Team Leader Abu Sabiq Mahdi said, "Achieving the title of World Champion at NASA Space Apps Challenge is itself a triumph for us and for our beloved country."

Nearly 18,000 participants took part in the Space Apps weekend. Altogether, 1,395 teams who won local events from across the world submitted their projects for the finals.

The International Space Apps Challenge is a two-day Hackathon where teams of technologists, scientists, designers, artists, educators, entrepreneurs, developers and students from across the globe collaborate and engage with publicly available data to design innovative solutions for global challenges.