BY SHEELA NARAYANAN

THEY knew very little about space - other than what Star Trek and all the other science fiction movies told them - and even less about space science.

But when the advertisement for the Singapore Space Challenge popped up around campus last September to design a satellite, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) engineering student, Chandrasekar Sureshkumar persuaded his six friends - all engineering students from India and Sri Lanka - to form a group and submit their proposal.

The 23-year-old electrical and electronic engineering student said: 'Most of the group members thought it would be stressful as we would have to do this on top of our studies. But I thought the competition would be a good stepping stone to learn about space science.'

So they plundered textbooks and even had one of their lecturers take time out of his busy schedule to give them a private tutorial on space science. And since most of them were working at their respective internships in December, they burnt the midnight oil daily, worked through their weekends and skipped their annual trips back home, to finish their submission.

Organised by the Singapore Space and Technology Association and the Centre for Research in Satellite Technologies at NTU, the competition had teams from various institutions design a satellite or system of satellites for launch into Low Earth Orbit.

The satellites must be able to monitor the seaways around Singapore and neighbouring countries, pick up distress signals to help search and rescue operations and monitor pirate activities in the region.

Teams had to submit a detailed mission paper and computer simulation of the satellite system for the competition.

Mr Chandrasekar's team may not have won - it was pipped into second place by NUS High School which took the top prize of $10,000 - but they are not disheartened.

'We didn't think about going into it to win, though that would have been good. We learnt a lot from the competition - we went from knowing nothing about space science to coming up with a satellite design,' he said.

In its second year, the competition saw a jump in the number of applications from the various junior colleges, polytechnics and universities - from eight to 22.

Professor Lui Pao Chuen, adviser to the National Research Foundation who presented the prizes to the top three teams on June 25, said: 'Designing a satellite system is a complicated process and no small feat, especially since the students had to manage the demands of this project over and above their regular school work.

'I was very impressed with the detailed work and strong display of innovation and creative thinking.'