INSPIRING STUDENTS TO AIM TOWARDS THE STARS.
- moonshotindia
- Jan 4, 2016
- 2 min read
Pune: On the second day of the new year---Saturday, January 2 2016----Isro launched a new type of mission.
It did not have a traditional countdown and in every sense it was a different type of a launch. The
launch pad was the auditorium Bal Shikshan Sanstha of the Maharashtra Education Society at Kothrud.
Any guess what was the mission about? It was to attract the younger generation towards a career in
India's space sector. Jointly organised by Isro and the Mumbai-based National Centre For Science Communicators,
the nearly three-and-a-half hour programme coincided with the first death anniv of the eminent space scientist
Vasant Gowariker who played a major role in India's first Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-3) programme. He passed
away on January 2,2015.
To mark the occasion, a book containing contributions by Gowariker's former colleagues, including Abdul Kalam
was distributed free to the students and the other guests. I managed to get it signed by the wife of Vasant Gowariker
who was presented with a brass model of Isro's latest rocket --LVM3 or the GSLV Mark 3 by Isro chairman A.S.Kiran
Kumar.
The programme saw the presence of Isro chairman, A.S.Kiran Kumar and other top Isro officials, some of them retired l
like Pramod Kale and R.R.Navalgund.
While the Isro chief explained to the students why the space agency will be a rewarding place to work as
it was moving into an era of new type of missions like for instance low cost access to space, the other speakers
focussed mainly on Isro's history which did not clearly spell out why students should choose a career th
Isro.
The mananging director of Walchandnagar Industrie G.S.Pillai, was clear, sharp and focussed in his presentation. He
told the audience that the space programme was multidimensional which will allow them to choose the discipline
which interests them.
It was clear from the presentations that while youngsters are excited about interplanetary missions like going to Mars
Mars, Venus, the asteroids and the moon, societal missions, however important they may be, do not have the same
appeal.
What better proof of this than the fact that while one of the speakers went on and on about the important role of space
technology in areas like agriculture, urban planning, meterology and water management, the students became
bored and restless and started talking loudly. To stop this speaker they clapped twice and he did not take the
hint to stop the presentation. They then began to leave the auditorium in large numbers!
But, when the dean of Isro's Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology A.Chandrasekhar, spoke they listened to
in rapt attention. His presentation triggered a lot of questions.
Yes, at the end of the mission, many of the students said that they have been inspired to aim for the stars by joining
Isro
The new year mission was a success.
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