Transcriber: Anna Pasqualetto Reviewer: Taher Koja
Well, part of the universe within this universe, the universe is in now, yes,
the universe is big enough, said Neil deGrasse Tyson,
an American astrophysicist and planetary scientist.
All these stars, we've seen the night sky are made up of atoms,
which is what we are made up of. Yes, we all made up of stardust.
I also look at the night sky and the stars and just wonders about
so many things I used to ask my mom, Why is Moon following me?
That's where my curiosity started toward space. I wanted to touch those stars.
And all I knew was that in order to reach them,
I needed to fly to the sky when I was six years old.
I used to see the airplanes take off
and land right from my home is in Bangalore,
pulling my dream to become a pilot. All the more.
I'm 26 now, and I'm the co-founder of an NGO that operates for the community
as visioning students that are interested in space related person.
You might ask, how did I go from dreaming of becoming a pilot to being
an entrepreneur in the space sector? I let you all know.
Being done was never important to me.
Well, at least not until I reach my 12th grade, when reality dawned on me,
I literally fell short of being a pilot. It upset me.
I gather myself, what if I can't fly an airplane? I learn how to build one.
Now, I had a new goal and a new boss.
I decided to pursue aeronautical engineering.
I also got an admission to
a Lions University for aerospace engineering to study airplanes
and spacecraft. It was like double the marker, taking lessons about space,
the demining, the orbits trajectories with satellites,
method of controlling them and communicating with them.
Propulsion system for all our rockets and satellites,
designing the inner dynamics, shapes and many more were so intriguing to study.
Allow me to recall how my dream began becoming a bi-LED syndrome.
A co-pilot at a shock and minute flight during my flight lacked training.
I'd become full. It was a bittersweet to be reminded of
the fact that my legs wouldn't still long enough to reach those foot pedals to
control the right now. Nonetheless, it was a wonderful experience I had.
I used to attend all the aerospace related programs
and conferences during one such conference,
I had the privilege of meeting many space enthusiasts like me
and professionals from space industry.
Among them was the de Souza,
who is currently my partner in professional and personal life.
In 2016, Sun and I formed a community of space enthusiast
and space professionals to create awareness about space
and help students with their projects.
The community was called the Society for Space Education,
Research and Development, in short, SCADA
and SSI. We came across many students who share their concerns like I would.
I would throw stars and planets taking up aerospace engineering.
And you mentioned that they thought one would learn how to drive
an aeroplane taking up aeronautical engineering.
We weren't disappointed that many students were not informed about
the courses that they were opting in.
A dark web between the careers of interest and
the awkward course would often devolve with them.
If you manage to find a way to swim across
the shore by redefining that interest in the course, however,
a lot of them struggle to get through.
It usually would be too late when they realize that it isn't their cup of tea.
We found a need to address.
And made this and this made us talk about diversity in space education.
We started inviting guest speakers from various sectors that students can discuss
and understand what are the recent developments
and career opportunities that they have
for students who are pursuing their undergraduate programs?
We could only help in making better decisions in their course. But.
It was then we realized the need to tackle this issue added to.
If we are to make a significant change to help them make informed choices,
then we are to do so at an early stage.
That is how I asked you off concentrated outreach in schools beginning,
after all, that's time you all start to dream, right?
In 2017, we had a full program,
which was faster speech given when I was when I was a student,
I hardly used to find any such nonsense. Space comes from an MBA.
The intention was to create similar camps here in India at affordable price was
what led to start this government.
Your students got a chance to learn from distinguished scientists.
Take part in stargazing. Take a trip to space museum.
Build rockets, aeroplanes and much more.
After receiving amazing feedback from students and parents are enthusiastic.
Government boost it up. We started creating courses that would benefit
students with a brief introduction to space science and astronomy.
Talking about space, I feel it is very important for me to talk workspaces.
And why does it fascinate me so much?
You may ask why today we try to understand the existence of the universe,
which fundamentally means we try to understand the very own existence of us.
Not only this, when you think about it, my department,
these are going on to make our lives better,
don't all 50 miles of the organization scientists are working on finding
the cure for cancer and other diseases.
This study changes in the human body under microgravity
so that one day we can plan the long trip to Mars or maybe even thought.
We try to understand not only up, but other planets as well,
and surprisingly stumbling upon planets that are similar to Earth by finding
no life as of yet is what makes us
so exceptionally extraordinary this cosmic garbage.
Now we have sent thousands of satellites into space, offered some different rules.
Communication satellites that allow us to connect with people anywhere in
the world because that helps us navigate across the way.
When when we also have satellites for sustainability
now, these are just a few examples from watching our favorite shows
on laptop line to military defenses.
And even the refrigerator before consuming space has become inevitably
part of my life.
With so much direct impact of space technology on our lives.
Let me ask you all a question. What do we know, anybody it ask Wolf.
Sudan and very dejected to mention that you have only one chapter about peace
in our science textbooks and that one chapter will only talk about history.
What is in our galaxy? Who was the first person to go to space,
which is the first rocket, which is the first satellite?
Which is exactly what our bedrooms would have studied 30 years ago.
I bet textbooks on outdated.
But there is need for our students to know what is happening in
the world today to match the levels of students in other developed countries.
Hence, we had you focus on providing updated information
on what is happening at present in space industry of India and the whole world
for students again, not just in India and the rural parts of India,
but we started spreading the information among
the students in countries like Sri Lanka, Singapore, Philippines,
morticians and other African countries where space is never given importance.
What do you like that Nicole had with experience in space education?
Let me tell you on what briefly space education consists of.
Aeronautics and aviation. That speaks about the metal board that revolutionized
the 20th century for Charlie.
Astronomy that systematically studies the stars and
the universe covering other fascinating topics like exoplanets,
mysterious black hole and bomb holes, and then there is space technology,
which includes the rocket satellite missions to land on the Moon and Mars
and even asteroids and comets.
We also have astronauts to explore microgravity and sustainable life
and much more. We you are also concentrating on some of
the unconventional topics that are never explored or ignored in India,
like space medicine, space law, astrobiology,
space art and even entrepreneurship.
Our aim is to let students know about all the domains of space
so that they can make informed decisions based on their interests.
It's better to know the place before piling it up on the plate.
Coming to the second most important problem in space education was method of
learning. We all know that in this competitive world,
we got just leave with two articles on.
Practical knowledge is of equal importance.
We adopted a special way of learning that is hands on
and stem learning,
that is loan build and launch or LBO method,
which we follow well, equal importance was given to learning
the basics of science and to at least build a model to experiment
and then launch and analyze the results. Which keeps them in the loop. You idiot.
And Reebok, if something doesn't go according to
the recently launched National Education Policy 2020
has stressed that one such
method of learning in STEM education.
With all the richest people investing in space sector to go to space,
the world now has dawned cutest than ever
to explore space through space tourism.
In India, when we say the words faith,
the first thing that strikes our part in the show, however.
The tide is changing for good.
Now we have some promising startups and space industry such
as Cairo of Nicole and Bellatrix, who are building rockets.
Companies like the US based Mix-A-Lot building satellites.
Not just that, we have different companies like such short,
numerate and blue Sky Anonymous,
utilizing satellite data to convert them into downstream production,
providing solutions to improve sectors like agriculture
and global problems like climate change.
These doctors will surely grow up to continue the legacy of Israel and India.
Now all these programs and advancements have inspired students to take up
schedules in space. However,
these students usually lack the necessary guidance
on their career path of interest.
Through our mentoring sessions,
we've got to understand their the students interest like.
We then provide with the picture of how they have to step by step towards
achieving their goals. We also provide them with an opportunity to read
and speak through space related experts.
I was thoroughly concerned when I noticed
the absence of female students present in our programs as a women co-founder.
I was determined to fix this problem.
I found out that women represent only 35 percent of all
the students enrolled in STEM related higher education globally.
Only 22, 22 percent of the work force in space sector is found by women.
Lack of guidance, financial issues,
societal pressure are some of the many reasons I could list.
This is when we talk of organizing
an event which could be exclusive to females,
which female speakers would convene with living examples.
Believe it or not, the experiment worked.
Soon we had a whole full of young girls and women as part of the event.
I still get calls from a few girls who attended the program,
asking for guidance on their book projects and even the jobs.
The global warming response has made us plan one such program every year,
and we all started providing scholarships for the female students.
I'm eagerly waiting to see all of them achieve their space goals.
Well, everything is going well. But Houston, we have a problem.
Coming from a middle class family with an engineering degree,
my parents felt I was wasting my time.
They wanted me to get a job that would be lucrative.
In addition, I was not just into entrepreneurship,
but into social entrepreneurship.
Both today and I gave up amazing opportunities and invested that time,
money and effort without expecting money in return.
Being first generation entrepreneurs,
we faced a problem in convincing our families.
But students feedback and the community support makes us continue to work towards
uplifting space education.
Space technology has not only help us understand what is beyond
the stars would also help to solve many problems here
on Earth with quality space education and guidance.
We will be able to tackle many such serious problems.
So are you with me?
And thank you.