A Space of their Own
Inspired by Space: 12 young girls and their journey interning at TeamIndus
ICYMI, TeamIndus Foundation in partnership with Unherd, has gone live with the GirlsInSTEM program –a collaborative initiative aims to spark interest among young girls about space, technology and engineering.
Targeted at bright girls from low-income communities, we opened the registration for this program in November.
By the end of the program, TeamIndus GirlsInSTEM program will educate girls about careers in aerospace engineering by providing them with access to TeamIndus’ resources.
After all, for this ‘space generation’, sky is not the limit.
In our version of #GirlsInSTEM diaries, we will be chronicling every day of their internship here. Do stay tuned for all the behind-the-scenes! :)
Day 1
The first day of the program was exciting.
We were pleasantly surprised with the confidence of the girls and their willingness to learn more about space and the universe. They were very attentive and grilled the experts to the maximum.
The session started off with an overview of the TeamIndus Moon mission by Hegde Sir, Former Chandrayaan-1 Mission Director and now TeamIndus Mission Director. The girls were excited to know about how we are planning to land a spacecraft on the Moon with one of the world’s lightest lunar rovers onboard.
The curious minds were then introduced to the concepts of orbits and Kepler’s laws of planetary motion by Flight Dynamics Engineer Sharon. They also learnt how satellites stay in orbit and how spacecraft trajectories work when going to other planets.
The last session by our science writer Jatan captured their imagination with the concept of exoplanets and how they are discovered. They were thrilled with the possibilities of life on some of these bodies, including life around a triple-star system.
We also got a chance to get these bright things on camera.
Day 2
The second day saw an exciting start as TeamIndus Skywalker Dhananjay gave the girls a tour of the campus. They were thrilled to see the spacecraft model!
After the discussion on spacecraft, they had a detailed session on TeamIndus’ rover — ECA. Led by Systems Engineer Paul, this session saw the girls learning about the science behind the Rover wheels and how to safeguard its electronics from radiation. The young minds had a lot of interesting questions throughout the session.
They were especially surprised at the engineering that goes behind designing something as simple as a wheel.
After a highly imaginative session with a fun sci-fi card game, our Communication Engineers Tinkesh and Vabhya briefed the students on how the spacecraft will communicate with Earth. This session gave them an insight on the infrastructure required to have reliable space communication.
Watch this video as the girls sum up their day:
Day 3
The day 3 kick started with Saumil, Lab2Moon, Team EARS member, explaining the importance of observing simple science around us.
They were explained how spacecrafts and astronauts are protected from the hazardous radiations in outer space. This was followed by a discussion on how future missions can devise novel technologies to combat radiation.
The next presentation by our Flight Software Engineer Rinku saw many questions by the students on how a spacecraft can be commanded remotely from Earth using telecommands. A further informative dive followed as they learnt how the spacecraft sends its health information.
We also had a honeycomb design session with the students. They were amazed at how the right geometric shapes can provide immense strength to something as fragile as a paper.
The last session conducted by our Propulsion Systems Engineer Mrigank captured their curiosity on how rockets are launched. The girls were surprised to know that it uses the very same Newton’s laws they learn in school. They also observed how rockets are shaped to reduce aerodynamic forces and what goes behind deciding the fuel capacities for a specific mission.
Here is a video from the day:
Day 4
Lab2Moon Program Lead Madhu started the day with an introduction to the experiments that will be flown aboard the TeamIndus lander. The girls were excited to know how soda-can sized experiments can help humans become a multi-planetary species.
The next session by Propulsion Engineer Rakesh took the imagination of the young minds to the farthest parts of our solar system a.k.a. the Kuiper Belt (home of their favorite planet Pluto) and the Oort cloud. The talk also shed light on future spacecraft ideas like solar sail that can go beyond our solar system.
The most emotionally rewarding output of a space mission lies in the beautiful imagery of the celestial objects. In the last session of the day, Guidance Navigation and Controls Engineer Shyam explained the process of designing cameras for space missions.
At the end of the day, we asked the girls what would they take with them if they were permanently shifting to the Moon. Check out this video for more!
That’s all for today. Day 5 coming up tomorrow. See you!
Day 5
The first session by Nirmal introduced the girls to all the elements that go into planning a moon mission. From learning about the orbit design & fuel requirements to the spacecraft structure, communications and the software involved, it was one interesting session!
Flight Design Engineer Deepana continued the spirit with a brief account on the history of space exploration and how we have sent spacecrafts to the Moon and beyond. The girls were further inspired by knowing about women in space like Valentina Tereshkova (the first woman in space), Sunita Williams and more.
The event ended with the a session by Suranjan on the science of spacecraft structures.
This is a special video for us!
And it’s a wrap. The 5-days just flew by!
While planning this internship, we never expected this kind of a reaction. Our intention while designing this program was to familiarize these students with different possibilities in the STEM fields.
As a country, we stand to gain a lot by exposing young girls to STEM fields and encouraging those who are interested to follow their hearts and minds.
At the end of this internship, we can proudly say with confidence that these bright girls have far exceeded the expected impact of this program.
They stumped our engineers with their questions! We were pleasantly surprised at their curiosity and attentiveness. They were very strong and confident throughout the sessions filled with complex science and formulas.
As we conclude the internship today, quite frankly, they have become our mini superheroes. It was a tough goodbye today and things did get a little emotional in the end. We wish these girls all the very best for their future, which already looks bright like a supernova to us.
A special thanks to Unherd and Parikrma Foundation for being such support systems in putting this together. TeamIndus Foundation hopes to run many such programs in the coming future. Here’s to more #GirlsInSTEM.
Thank you Vijaya, Harshini, Lubna, Divya, Anusha, Manujakshini, Divya, Nithisha, Akhila, Harshitha, Pooja with Alister D’Monte. It has been a quite an adventure for us to host everyone at the TeamIndus HQ. May the force be with you!
