Visa Denial: Six students couldn't make it to NASA competition

Even though two teams of engineering students from CUET and AIUB were selected by NASA for the NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge, they are not taking part as most of the students had been denied visas. 

Shattering the dream of 12 students of Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET), and American International University, Bangladesh (AIUB), the three-day competition begins today at the US Space & Rocket Centre.

“We had taken all preparations, but our applications for visas were denied … Whatever the reasons might be, we are frustrated,” said Mainul Hasan, leader of the CUET team. None from his six-member team got visas.

Only two students from the six-member AIUB team got visas, forcing the team not to go to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) event.

Mahfuzur Rahman, team leader of AIUB Robotic Crew Legacy Reloaded, said their designed human-powered rover weighed over 100kg and had the ability to traverse rough and rocky terrains, like in Mars.

The 7-feet-by-3.5-feet rover has two seats and is 5 feet high when folded, said Mahfuzur, a student of AIUB's Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE) department.

Mainul said they made an 8-feet-by-4-feet rover capable of travelling on rocky and sandy terrain.

Ninety-nine teams were supposed to take part in the competition. Most of the teams are from the US. Teams from India, Mexico, Bolivia, Peru, Lithuania and Brazil were also taking part.

At the competition, student teams would be required to design, build, test and race human-powered rovers, driven by one male and one female team member, according to NASA.

The challenge highlights NASA's goals for future exploration to Mars and beyond. Inspired by the lunar vehicles of the Apollo moon missions, the competition challenges students to solve engineering problems, while emphasising NASA's commitment to inspiring new generations of scientists, engineers and explorers.

The AIUB team, which has previous experiences of participating in the University Rover Challenge 2016 in Utah and had secured 8th place beating 63 teams from 12 nations, was more confident of winning the NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge 2017, Mahfuzur said.

It took them some three months to make the rover and they had to spend Tk 1.5 lakh. Nearly same time and money was spent for the CUET team.

Things have changed for them with the visa refusals. The students were the kind that sees silver linings around clouds.

Mainul of CUET said they now plan to take part in national or international exhibition with the rover they have built.

Mahfuzur of AIUB said they were thinking of taking their rover to the beach. “As tourists go there, they can have a taste of riding the rover that can travel on sandy and rocky terrain,” he told this correspondent.

In an email response to The Daily Star queries, US Embassy Information Officer Nancy VanHorn said consular officers review each case carefully and make their decisions based on US laws.

“Bangladeshi students, business owners, and tourists receive visas every day to travel to the United States,” she said.