Around one lakh students from across the country applied for a residential training programme of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) of which 150 were selected, the space agency said on Tuesday. The ‘YUva VIgyani KAryakram’ (YUVIKA) is being conducted by ISRO from May 16 to May 28. ISRO said 150 students were selected from all the states and Union territories of the country. The training is organised at five centres of ISRO — Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, U R Rao Satellite Centre, Bengaluru, Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad, National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad, and North Eastern Space Applications Centre, Shillong.
The programme includes classroom lectures, hands-on activities, interaction with eminent scientists, lab/facility visits, sky gazing, robotic assembly, and ‘Cansat’ experiments, according to an ISRO statement. All the students will be taken to SDSC SHAR- Sriharikota, the space port of India, for a visit and face-to-face interaction with ISRO Chairman S Somanath, it was stated.
“Around one lakh students applied for the programme. Finally, 150 students were selected based on the academic scores and achievements in other co-curricular activities”, ISRO said.
Mr Somanath inaugurated YUVIKA-2022 in a virtual event on Monday. Addressing the gathering, Mr Somanath urged the students to fully utilise the opportunity to interact with the senior scientists and technocrats whom they are going to meet in the next two weeks. He also explained to the students about the vast opportunities and domains like Engineering, Astrophysics, Astrobiology, Mathematics, Material Science, Chemistry, and Computer Science which actually are integral part of space technology “but not known to people.”
Mr Somanath also appealed to the students to become “ambassadors” of ISRO and propagate the experience to their schoolmates, teachers, and general public and make them understand how ISRO is touching each and everyone’s life in a positive way.
ISRO earlier said YUVIKA, a special programme for school children, is aimed at imparting basic knowledge on space technology, space science and space applications to the younger students with a preference to rural areas. “The programme is aimed at creating awareness about the emerging trends in science and technology amongst the youngsters, who are the future building blocks of our nation”, it said.
ISRO said it has chalked out this programme to “Catch them young”, adding, it is also expected to encourage more students to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)-based research/ career.