Self-taught 11-year-old prodigy writes 600 lines of code to build rocket, dreams of exploring space
The boy fell in love with rockets and astronomy when he was four-years-old. This fascination came after he visited a rocket launch centre.
An 11-year-old boy named Yan Hongsen from China is being dubbed as a prodigy after he taught himself programming, physics, and chemistry and then wrote 600 lines of code to build a rocket. Yes, you read that right. Hongsen, who has been given the name "Rocket Boy", is a primary five student, as per reports.
According to the South China Morning Post, Hongsen has been documenting his journey on Douyin, a Chinese social media platform.
The boy fell in love with rockets and astronomy when he was just four-years-old. This fascination came after he visited a launch centre and witnessed the Long March-2 liftoff. (Also Read: Young prodigy Aaryan Shukla from DPS Nashik makes India proud, creates Guinness World Record in mental math calculation)
After that, he began his online programming course in kindergarten. He also taught himself tough subjects such as physics and chemistry through books, online videos, and forums with astronomy enthusiasts.
After seeing the child's eagerness to learn, his parents supported him in every way possible. They even converted their living room into a rocket research studio.
In August 2022, Hongsen began building his first ever homemade rocket. In June last year, he launched his rocket, however, soon after it went up, the rocket faced issues and crashed.
Hongsen then collected the debris from the rocket and analysed where it went wrong. He told the South China Morning Post, "The nitrocellulose didn't explode as expected; the spring and lithium battery were also damaged. Maybe there is still an issue with the rocket's body connection."
His father recounted the maiden launch, telling the Post: "For me, although it crashed, the rocket's first flight was still a success. I was extremely excited and thrilled, while my son remained very calm."
In an effort to launch the rocket once more in the future, Hongsen is currently modifying his second model. The Rocket Boy wrote more than 600 lines of code he built for the flight control system of the most recent rocket in his most recent video. He has a definite plan for the future and wants to enrol in one of China's seven elite civilian defence institutes, according to his father. When he grows older, he wants to develop a genuine rocket for China to use in space exploration.