Two Bangladeshi teams have reached the top four of Nasa Space App Challenge competition which saw over 2,500 competitors from 79 countries.

This is the first time any Bangladeshi team has come this far in the challenge.

NASA announced names of 25 teams in six categories last week. Bangladesh has taken place in the top 4 in two categories among them, says a press release of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS)

Nominated as champion from Sylhet, Team ‘Olik’, is in the top in Best Use of Data Category, along with California, Kuala Lumpur and Japan.

Team Olik’s Lunar VR project is mainly a virtual reality application by which the user will have an experience of traveling on the moon. Team Olik has used a 3D model and data from resources of NASA for creating the virtual demonstration of landing area traveling of NASA's Apollo-11 mission.

Nominated as runners-up from Dhaka, Team ‘Planet Kit’, is in the top in Best Use of Hardware Category, along with Argentina, Australia and Taipei, reads the press release.

Planet Kit created something which would help to survive on Mars. ‘Planet Kit’ will help us in providing data of the environment, chemical examinations of the earlier stages, emergency precaution and assisting in danger, evaluating soil structure and cultivating in small-scale, collecting drinking water, planning the ways and 3D virtualization, as per the press release.

NASA Space Apps Challenge 2018 Bangladesh Convener Didarul Alam said, this year we have sorted out top 40 projects from 2000 projects.

Nine cities of Bangladesh (Dhaka, Sylhet, Chittagong, Barisal, Rangpur, Mymensingh, Khulna, Barisal and Comilla) have participated in this Global Hack-a-Thon, he said.

Our participants have done excellent in the international phase. We are hopeful to secure the top spot in these two categories, he added.