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MUMBAI: Twenty thousand Indians and one German received a boarding pass from Space Kidz India (SKI) in Chennai to launch into space in Isro’s Pslv-C-51 mission, which is expected to start in February.
Their names are inserted into a flash memory chip from SD-Sat from SKI, a nanosatellite. The campaign for public participation in an Indian space mission, the first of its kind in India, began on December 20 and ended on Sunday.
The Pslv C-51 is the first Indian space mission to promote the public and generate interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics at NextGen.
Srimathy Kesan, CEO of SKI, told TOI: “The flash chip has space for almost a million names. However, we were unable to extend the deadline beyond Sunday as we need to prepare the satellite for delivery to Isro on January 14th or 15th. “”
The small satellite is named after the former Isro boss and founder of the Indian space program Satish Dhawan.
The main function of the satellite is to study space radiation and magnetosphere and to demonstrate the specially designed and developed nanosatellite components and to evaluate various space-related capabilities.
Two more satellites from space startups, Pixxels ‘Anand’ and Unit-Sat, designed by a consortium of universities, will fly SKI-SD-Sat next month.
NASA also invites the public to participate in their missions by submitting their name and receiving a boarding pass as a souvenir. Many Indians have given their names in Nasa’s persistence mission, which will land on the Jezero Crater on the Red Planet at 12:45 p.m. EST on February 19.
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