Budding Indian Volcanologist In NASA-Led Lunar Mission

PUNE: Sonit Sisolekar, a class X student from Pune and budding Volcanologist, has been selected to participate in the Great Lunar Expedition for Everyone (GLEE) 2023. 

GLEE is a NASA-led competition. The class X student would also lead a team of Indian students for the mission. 

At the age of 15 years, Sisolekar's achievement ranges from being a budding Volcanologist to a beginner researcher in Astronomy and Geology to that of a Tabla player. With all of that, he is now set to study the lunar surface and if eventfully he might study the volcanic activity too. 

The talented teenager stated that GLEE has offered him an opportunity to read about volcanic activity on the lunar surface. Volcanology is his primary interest. He expressed his interest to study topics such as the lava flows on the moon, and the rock and lunar regolith composition among many others. For the past three months, Sisolekar has been busy studying the sinuous rills (small volcanic features on the moon). 

GLEE is NASA's mission to the moon's surface, especially meant for school students around the world. The aim of the mission is to send small satellites, which are known as Lunasats. These satellites weigh 5 grams. They will conduct scientific and technology testing on the lunar surface. 

Sisolekar reportedly led one of the groups that participated in the recent International Earth Science OIympiad (IESO). His group won the gold medal. Along with it, the teenager also won two bronze medals individually at the event. His achievements helped India in presenting the nation's best-ever performance at the IESO. 

Sisolekar expressed that IESO was a completely new experience for him. Previously, he attended conferences and participated in competitions, related to geology, both on national and international platforms. He also received the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Purashkar for the year 2021. 

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