Astronomical Claims — NASA or NOT

A recent headline declared: “Local school wins first prize in NASA-NSS contest” Even local YouTube channels echoed it. But was it really NASA? The truth is likely less glamorous.

WHY QUESTION IT? Our students are as talented as anyone. But are they so talented that they can win NASA’s global top prize? Maybe not. So I checked the facts as I feel parents deserve clarity, and schools need to avoid making tall claims.

OBSERVATION 1: NOT A NASA CONTEST This was not a NASA contest. It was run by the National Space Society (NSS), an independent non-profit agency. NASA once ran it, but hasn’t for years. The NSS winners page itself confirms this fact. Check the bottom of the page https://nss.org/settlement/nasa/Contest/Results/2025/

The school could have very well said that the contest was run formerly by NASA but instead they used “NASA” everywhere, in fact they used it before the word “NSS”. They claimed contest was hosted at NASA Ames Centre. Not true. Even the winners’ certificates that were shown in the school’s press conference did not have the word NASA on them.

OBSERVATION 2: NOT A MAIN WIN EVEN ON NSS The school’s name isn’t listed under the ‘TOP ENTRANTS’ of the NSS webpage https://nss.org/nss-space-settlement-contest/recent-winners

It appears deeper inside the NSS site, and this may indicate that their win was not a major one, and definitely not the grand main prize as projected. Leave apart NASA but even on NSS it was a normal win. Still, their PR and the media showed it as NASA’s global first prize, with some articles even claiming they made India proud.

OBSERVATION 3: OVER-AGED PARTICIPANTS? In the school’s press conference available on YouTube, one can see that one of their students introduced themselves as a 10th class student, while their win was actually in the 8th class category! This particular participant’s name is listed under the Class 8 winners on NSS’s site. It appears NSS does not strictly verify age, raising questions about the contest’s credibility. Continued below.

OBSERVATION 4: DEVELOPED COUNTRIES MISSING FROM WINNERS LIST Scan the 2025 NSS winners list. You’ll notice no winners from countries leading in — EDUCATION: UK, Finland, Singapore, Australia, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden etc. SPACE SCIENCE: Russia, China, Japan, Israel etc. ENGINEERIGN: Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland etc.

Yet India alone has 60 mentions. Odd?

OBSERVATION 5: WHO FROM INDIA ACTUALLY WON? Surprisingly, none of the country’s most reputed schools show up (DPS, HPS, Bishop Cotton, Ambani International, top schools based in IITs or any of the elite IB schools)

Instead, almost all wins come from just two schools: Narayana and Chaitanya, with 26 mentions each, on the NSS winners page. Both these schools had a Joint-Venture in the past so this makes it a total of 52 wins out of the 60 India wins. These are good schools but are likely not in the same league as India’s top most schools.

OBSERVATION 6: LOCAL WIN EXPLAINED? A senior appointee at this local school earlier worked in one of the above mentioned schools, solely in a NASA (NSS?) organizer role. This is as per this person’s professional profile as seen on Google, as on date.

Of course, the students and teachers worked hard. But claiming an NSS victory as NASA and even seeking felicitation from the local administration, may give their school children an inaccurate impression of their own abilities.

A WORD OF CAUTION The Hindu newspaper has already warned about “NASA contest scam” so one needs to tread carefully and not use the word NASA lightly. *Click site WHAT OFFICIAL NASA SCHOOL CONTESTS LOOK LIKE - Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC). Click site

• NASA International Space Apps Challenge. Click site*

CLOSING THOUGHT Have great respect for the efforts and the people running the school. One day, hopefully, the students will really bring home a global prize in the truest sense and make the city and country proud. Fingers crossed.