Bangalore: The Bishop Cotton Boys School, Bangalore has been declared the international winners of the space settlement design competition for 2011 organized by NASA on July 30, 31 and August 1 at the Johnson Space Center, Houston, USA.

They were the joint winners in the Asian final with a Pakistan school. Along with three other schools - from USA, Romania and UK - Bishop Cotton School was also a part of the `one company' that designed the settlement of Mars and was declared the winners.

Anil Agarwal, one of the Bishop Cotton team members, said that they designed a settlement on Mars that had all the requirements for a human being to live there. From water to energy to food to agriculture to air and atmosphere, the space settlement met all standards prescribed by NASA scientists.

Agarwal and friends did a lot of research on space before getting into the competition. They did extensive reading on everything about space, how space is different from earth and what was needed for humans to live in space and on other planets like Mars, Agarwal added.

Bishop Cotton first won the national round designing a settlement in an asteroid. Then at the Asian level, three schools competed in the final, Bishop Cotton, a Kolkata school and a Pakistan school. Of the three, Bishop Cotton and the Pakistan school made it to the international final.

Agarwal further said: It was an amazing experience to work with students from Pakistan. As people and human beings, we are just not different. We got along very well with them and they were very friendly. We realized it's only politics that makes us seem different.

Bishop Cotton and the Pakistan school were not part of the same group, once both the teams made it to Houston. Different schools were to join together and form a company and then each company would design a space settlement. While Bishop Cotton team won the finals, the Pakistan school was runners-up.

Agarwal said the final also had questions from NASA scientists. They were able to handle all questions, for which they are thankful to their research. Among their team, there were different ideas on how they should design the settlement. They had to come to a consensus on the specifics which they did after discussion. And once they had agreed upon the model, they set upon completing their work, Agarwal added.