“No one in my family has pursued science. My father used to be worried, but now that we’ve created a satellite, he also wants me to continue my future studies in space and technology,” said Manya Saluja, a 10th grade student from Modern Public School, Delhi, who was part of a team of schoolgirls who were mentored by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) to develop and build a satellite.
A total of 750 girl students from across India were selected to build ‘AzadiSAT’, a satellite marking the 75th year of India’s independence. As part of the program, ISRO wants to encourage girls to study Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Although the satellite was unsuccessful, ISRO has managed to plant dreams in the eyes of young girls from rural India who are now focused on working in STEM, especially space and technology.
In this initiative, girls students from mainly government schools with economically weak backgrounds across the country were guided to build these payloads, which were then integrated by the student team of “Space Kidz India”.
As many as 75 schools across the country were selected to be part of this futuristic project, where students, mostly from grades 8-12, were given hands-on knowledge of space science. Each team of the 75 schools consisted of 10 girl students.
All 10 girls on my team now want to follow the science stream, as this initiative has increased our curiosity and fascination with space.
“All 10 girls on my team now want to continue the science stream, as this initiative has fueled our curiosity and fascination with space. We used to have four-hour online sessions once a week and we were all excited every time,” said Angel Kalra, a student of the Modern Public School, Delhi.
The countdown, launch and all three phases of the journey from the spaceport proceeded according to the calculations of the ISRO scientists. SSLV was carrying the Earth Observation Satellite (EOS-02), AzadiSat’s main payload, but was sadly deemed a failure because it failed to reach its assigned orbit.
If we can build a satellite on the first try, we can do it again to make it a success.
The girls were discouraged after the failure, but they have not lost hope. They say if we can build a satellite this time, we can do it again to make it a success. “Although the satellite failed after launch, we are pleased that it has successfully passed all three phases. The initiative is one of a kind with the ‘All Women Concept’ and it really helped all the selected girls explore space sciences,” said Avnish Kaur, another student who was part of this initiative.
As part of the project, girls gained a basic understanding and knowledge of space and were taught to build a small experiment and launch it to the edge of space via a “balloon satellite” or via an “orbital satellite”.
“I was the only one selected to visit the center. There were large digital screens there and the whole experience was nothing but mesmerizing. No one in my family has followed science and my father wasn’t even sure if I should be part of the AzadiSAT initiative. But now that we have built our own satellite, even he is excited and wants me to continue my future studies in this field,” said Manya Saluja, a class 10 student of the Modern Public School, Delhi.
The 8 kg satellite was equipped with 75 Femto experiments, selfie cameras and long-range communication transponders. It was embedded with 75 different charges, each weighing 50 g. To measure the ionizing radiation in its orbit, it also contained a long-range transponder and a solid-state PIN diode-based radiation counter. The satellite also had a recorded version of India’s national anthem.
AzadiSAT wanted to show the participation of daughters not only in the field of space science, but also in painting the future of this country.
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