Amritsar Class 10 student lands ISRO’s YUVIKA programme after ChatGPT suggestion

ChatGPT seems to have taken over our lives, with people seeking answers on work, life, and everything in between. For Manak Jain, a Class 10 student from The Millennium School, Amritsar, a routine question to ChatGPT on how she could spend her school break productively got her into the coveted Young Scientist Programme by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

YUVIKA, short for “YUva VIgyani KAryakram”, is an annual, fully sponsored two-week residential summer programme by ISRO the for school children. The programme aims to introduce young minds to space science, technology, and applications while encouraging them to pursue STEM careers. It features classroom lectures, hands-on activities, interactive sessions with scientists, sky gazing, and field visits to ISRO centres.

And Manak is among only three students selected from Punjab — the only one from Amritsar — for its May 2026 session.

“I wanted to know how I could spend my holidays productively and typed in ChatGPT seeking some activities I could take up. That’s how I got to know about ISRO’s YUVIKA programme. I applied and, through a process that considered my academic weightage, school activities, NCC credit, and a national space quiz, I finally made it to the finalists,” said Manak, who cannot hide her excitement about being at ISRO’s Remote Sensing Centre in Jodhpur this May.

An all-rounder, Manak is a thorough STEM student. “Science and Maths fascinate me. I understood the significance of ISRO’s research program when I followed their Chandrayaan mission. Satellites and rocket science are something I can read about for hours,” she said. Her mother, Ruhani, is an AI educator at The Millennium School and her father, Kapil, works with a private bank as a manager. In between school and academics, she also loves dance workouts and sketching.

Manak now looks forward to joining other students and learning about space navigation and ISRO’s space programmes.

“I feel that ISRO’s women scientists are driving India’s space research and I feel inspired,” said Manak. For now, she is excited for her time at ISRO while enjoying ‘celebrity’ status among her friends.