A teen from Maharashtra claims to have been selected for the NASA fellowship – the programme which apparently the agency does not offer, at least the documents available on the website say so.

Diksha Shinde, 14, according to news agency ANI has been selected as a panellist on the Minority Serving Institution (MSI) Fellowships Virtual Panel of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The class 10 student has reportedly claimed that she was selected for the 2021 MSI Fellowships Virtual Panel in June after the International Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research accepted her research paper on ‘We Live in Black Hole?’ in May 2021. “I accepted the offer and will start working soon. My job involves reviewing proposals submitted by researchers and describing a collaborative approach to conduct research with NASA and understanding the connection between the proposed research area and academic discipline pursuit of the students,” ANI report quoted the 14-year-old from Aurangabad.

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Diksha, who claims to have faced rejection on the two earlier occasions, said in the third attempt her research article on black hole was accepted by NASA in December 2020. The teen, according to ANI report, “provisionally discovered the ‘Main Belt asteroid’.”

The claim of the 14-year-old, however, has been junked by many people on social media who have expressed doubt about this report, and said the girl could have been duped.

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The news agency backed its report by posting screenshots of alleged correspondence of NASA and IJSER with Diksha. However, this added to several other questions about the authenticity of the opportunity.

A few questions

The US space agency does not have any such programme.

The eligibility for the fellowship: To even submit a proposal for a fellowship, according to NASA website, a candidate must already have attended an MSI. The applicant should be a US citizen who holds a bachelor’s degree earned before August 31. They must enrol in a Master’s or Doctoral degree program before September 1, 2021. However, Diksha is a class 10 student and does not meet any of these requirements.

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Diksha Shinde’s paper on Black Hole, according to her, was accepted by the International Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research. The website of the IJSER, however, has no paper published in her name. The correspondence put out by ANI showed a message from IJSER to the 14-year-old, her paper was selected for publication on Volume 12, Issue 5, May 2021. However, in the May edition of the journal, there wasn’t any paper by Diksha Shinde.

A certificate allegedly issued to Diksha Shinde by NASA is also doing rounds on social media. The certificate-in-question, posted by ANI with its logo, has the signatures of NASA CEO and President James Bridenstine and Department Chair James Frederick. The organisational structure of NASA, however, is such that they do not have the designation of CEO. The current position of the administrator at NASA is held by Bill Nelson. While the two current chairs in the advisory groups are General Lester L. Lyles and Dr Patricia Sanders.

Interestingly, James Frederick Bridenstine was NASA’s administrator from 2013 to 2018. According to some of the users, this name was split into two to create the ‘certificate’ issued to Diksha Shinde.