HYDERABAD: In the wee hours of Friday, a tiny payload to study cosmic radiation and ozone layer concentration at various altitudes was launched from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), ECIL in Hyderabad. The entire four-hour long flight was tracked live with GPS from the TIFR control centre. The payload was recovered at Kalaburagi in Karnataka.
The 15-member team that designed the atmospheric probe were not scientists, but children of daily-wage labourers, masons, autorickshaw drivers, construction workers, vegetable vendors and roadside tea sellers -- all students of Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions (TSWREIS). The students were scripting history, as SWAEROSAT-1 was attached to a high altitude balloon and launched from the TIFR premises at around 2.40 am. It reached an altitude of 26 km, and recorded the data throughout the flight that lasted for about four hours.
TSWREIS teachers and students said the SWAEROSAT-1 launch was symbolic of the aspiration of millions of marginalised communities in the country. The students’ joy knew no bounds as their dream project of sending a near-space atmospheric probe successfully into stratosphere became a reality. The objective of the mission is to study harmful radiations and to measure the concentration of the ozone at various altitudes. This would then be compared to the global standards, said RS Parveen Kumar, secretary of TSWREIS. He stated that their humble family backgrounds failed to act as deterrents in their ambition to become future space scientists.
Prasanna Lakshmi, a Class 9 student at the social welfare residential school of Isnapur agrees. “I never imagined in my wildest dreams that I would get an opportunity to design a space atmospheric probe at a very young age. I feel that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I am fortunate to be able to leverage it,” she stated.
Another aspiring space scientist from the team, J Divya, a student of Gowlidoddi junior college, said that she was thrilled when she saw their payload taking off majestically without technical glitches.
Minister for Welfare Koppula Eshwar congratulated the students for their remarkable scientific endeavour.
The entire project was aided by chairperson DK Ojha and scientist-in-charge B Suneel Kumar of TIFR Balloon Facility. The team members were mentored and trained by captain Anil Kumar and Sujay Sreedhar of Swaero-Sapiens Automation Solutions in Hyderabad.