-
CANBERRA: India-Australia partnership aims to bridge skill gap for future employment - April 15, 2024
-
HOUSTON: Mumbai boys in the final rounds of FIRST World Robotics competition to be held in Houston - April 14, 2024
-
MADRAS: IIT Madras NPTEL translates thousands of technical courses into several regional languages - April 10, 2024
-
MUMBAI: Shahid Kapoor opens up about the challenges faced by character actors in Bollywood - April 8, 2024
-
NEW DELHI: World Health Day 2024: Date, Theme, History, Significance and Interesting Facts - April 6, 2024
-
LONDON: Indian-Origin Teen In UK Gets “Life-Changing” Cancer Treatment - April 3, 2024
-
BENGALURU: Indian scientists unravel genetic secrets behind lumpy skin disease outbreak - March 30, 2024
-
NEW DELHI: Youngsters’ Increasing Stress Levels, Early Onset of Diseases an Alarming Health Trend: Apollo Hospitals Chief - March 28, 2024
-
MARYLAND: All About Pavan Davuluri, New Head Of Microsoft Windows - March 27, 2024
-
MUMBAI: Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya turns 26: Kajol says THIS was the symbol of an innocent girl back then - March 27, 2024
PARIS: PIO space scientist wants to give wings to desi students’ dreams
PARIS: Priya Patel, a 25-year-old
Indian-origin space scientist who has trained and worked with space agencies
Nasa and European Space Agency (ESA) on key inter-planetary missions and
aspires to be a full-fledged astronaut in order to become the first Indian to
reach Moon and Mars, has set up an NGO in the US to “provide resources to young
Indian students from low socio-economic strata to give them exposure to space
facilities abroad”.
Priya, who did her masters in space sciences engineering from the University
College London in 2017 and is currently pursuing her PhD from the same
university in coordination with Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in a
telephonic interview, told TOI that “the idea behind setting up NGO
Sharda Foundation, named after my grandmother, is to bring talented and
passionate Indian school students to a space agency facility abroad, either
Nasa or ESA, to allow students to experience the space culture in various
countries”.
“I want to ensure that such
experiences are shared with those that are truly passionate about space, but do
not have the resources to follow their passion,” the space engineer, who is
also training to become an aerobatic pilot, told TOI. Priya was born in
Gujarat’s Kadi town and did her schooling from Gandhinagar before moving to
London in 2005. Besides her space projects, she has also been “training in
Bharatanatyam for over 12 years and participated in various national and
international performances”.
The 25-year-old is currently
working on collecting atmospheric data from Nasa’s Perseverance Rover, which
landed on the Red planet on February 18 this year, to study the presence of
water on Mars.