Five-day space camp for students launched

Kochi: A project exposing school students to a five-day training in space studies was launched in the city on Tuesday.

Launched in an effort to ignite an interest in space studies, the initiative will help 30 school children undertake a five-day training at the Space Academy in Singapore.

'Saura Yaathrika', the project launched by Kerala Travels Interserve (KTI), provides an opportunity to students between classes 9 and 12 to train with renowned astronauts, astrophysicists and space scientists at the Academy, said the KTI Managing Director K C Chandrahasan. He estimated the total cost of the programme per student to be around Rs.1 lakh, which would be borne by the students themselves.

While 10 students would be selected from Kerala, the rest would be drawn in from other states. Selections would be made on the basis of an entrance examination and interview, he said. Qualifying students would be required to be well-conversant in English and will start their training, which would be conducted by former NASA engineers and scientists, on June 13.

Project consultant DS Rane said that, in addition to visiting relevant sites, the trainees would get to learn about life as an astronaut, the human effects and challenges of a space environment, basic rocketry, robotic navigation, and the physics of satellite orbits.

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KTI Executive Director Jaya Chandrahasan said that the travels had also instituted a scholarship in the name of the first Indian American astronaut Kalpana Chawla, who was killed along with other members of the space shuttle 'Colombia'. A female student from a government school in Kerala would be chosen from among the applicants for the scholarship, and all her expenses at the camp would be sponsored by the KTI, she said.