Can you brief us about your journey to our readers?
At Vyomika Space Academy, we are committed to promote Space Education in rural parts of India. In our beginning phase we have identified a great gap in the learning opportunities for the rural students in the northern states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab etc. We have started deploying multiple training programs in the targeted government schools by providing our short term physical and virtual training session on subjects such the need of rocket launches for India, satellite application for rural areas and Telescope based Astronomy to educate the rural students about the potential of Indian Space Programme and ISRO. In 2022 we got registered under the ISRO Space Tutor Programme and we launched our unique Rural Space Lab Platforms for the government schools in Uttar Pradesh and nearby states. Based on our good work dedicated to the rural students in the aspirational district Siddharth Nagar of Uttar Pradesh, on 17th April 2023 our Rural Space Lab project has received a national award from the President of India. At present Team Vyomika Space is all set to installing around 170 Space Labs in over 40 Districts of India to empower more than 22000 rural students.
Space Industry is evolving very rapidly in India and globally, what are the current Skills/Courses you are currently offering?
As India is reaching moon, mars and beyond, it became a necessity to educate our young generation to meet the needs of the Indian Space Industry. At Vyomika Space Labs we are offering low cost physical skill development courses and kits to an age group of 8-18 years old students. Our curriculum teaches subjects such as Astronomy through Telescopic Observation, Drone technology, Satellite based Remote Sensing Application for villages, Sounding rocket designing and other emerging technologies.
Tell us something about the process of setting up Space Labs in rural Places & what are the activities each space lab will have?
To set a rural space lab, we sent our request proposal to the concerned district administration officials and village Sarpanch. After the approval of the project the education department or the Gram Panchayat provides us the suitable government school classroom and necessary fund to establish the proposed space education lab. The lab setup includes instruments such as telescope, drones, 3D Printer, RC Aircrafts, DIY Kits, Robots, Books, ISRO Rockets and Satellite exhibits and many more projects to run the space lab curriculum. Also to achieve sustainability for the space lab operations we train the local government school teachers.
Under this training the attendee teachers learn to use and demonstrate all the given projects in the space lab.
What are the challenges and opportunities you see in Indian space industry in next 5 Years?
As Indian Space Industry is progressing with an amazing rate, we surely need a massive skilled workforce to serve the industry. But as India’s major youth population is living in Rural regions, therefore we need a robust space education and awareness schemes for every rural student. Even with so many educational development plans, still we do not have good space science learning platforms for our government school attending students, especially in small population villages of northern states of India. With the promising space missions done by ISRO such as Chandrayaan 3 and Aditya L1 the entire rural student community is determined to build a career in the thriving Indian Space Industry and it is the duty of all the concerned institutions to provide the required support to the eligible students from every corner of the country.
What is your message to youngsters who wish to choose space industry as their Career?
With its recent space missions ISRO have made it clear that Indian Space Industry is ready to lead the global space economy in the coming decades. And our youth possess a great opportunity in this new Indian space ecosystem. We are living in an amazing time where we can start a rocket and satellite manufacturing start-ups in the blink of an eye. Under the great supervision of ISRO it’s capacity building programme office is reaching almost every young cosmic mind to help them craft their career in Indian Space Industry.
As a Space Tutor, what would you like to achieve in next 2 years? How ISRO is helping you & what kind of more implementations you expect from ISRO?
ISRO’s space tutor programme enables, startups like us to reach all kind of young cosmic minds. We are getting many educational resources such as ISRO Jigyasa Portal and to run our curriculum and As a responsible space tutor Vyomika Space want to serve the most remote locations and villages of India to cultivate thousands of Abdul Kalams and Kalpana Chawlas to serve the scientific community of Bharat.
If you could change one thing about Space Industry with a click of your fingers, what would it be and why?
If I could change one thing in global space industry then it would be its international collaboration regime. Sharing of findings and Research among leading space fearing nations would reduce down the cost of future space exploration missions. Humanity can’t go interstellar or intergalactic civilization, without a planetary level cooperation.
