Now,a beginner’s course in astronomy

Apart from lectures and screening of documentaries,children will also be taught the basics of making robots and rockets.

The course will have experts from Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) and so on talking to the students about the various related topics. Mayuresh Prabhune,founder of Vishwa Scientific said,“We are arranging lectures by experts from IIST. There is a growing need for such courses in the country with the sole aim educate children about everythign related to space and astronomy. However,it is surprising that such courses have not yet been organised for school students. Children will get inquisitive about these subjects only if they are given an introduction to them. We will try to do just that through this course.”

The course is a basic certificate course which will talk to students about the basic concepts of space and astronomy. Students will also be educated about different space programs in the world as well as past and future Indian space programs and missions. “We are planning to give the students a practical training into making rockets and robots. We are arranging for videos of various space programs from ISRO too. The second phase of the course will include taking the students for tours to ISRO to give them a better idea of how things function there,” added Prabhune.

A few people who have received training in NASA will also be a part of the course. Leena Bokil,secretary of the National Space Society,India chapter said,“Till the time we launch Chandrayaan- 3 which will involve human space flight,we will need lots of competent engineers who can qualify as astronauts. For that,there needs to be various programs which attract students towards this field of science. This course will be a step towards making students aware.”