CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government is in talks with Chicago’s Adler Planetarium to set up a science park in the state which would nurture space exploration among the children.
Adler Planetarium is a public museum in Chicago, Illinois, dedicated to astronomy and astrophysics.
Speaking after the launch of Vaanam Space Tech Accelerator on Wednesday evening, Industries Minister TRB Rajaa, during a fireside chat with former Indian Space Research Organisation scientist Nambi Narayanan, said that the science park in Chennai needs to be upgraded. The talks are in an initial stage, he added.
He was reacting to Narayanan’s idea of providing kids with space travel experience. He urged Narayanan to design a curriculum for the states, enabling students to know about space at a young age.
Keeping an eye on the launch of the space port at Kulasekharapatnam in the next two years, the state is keen to develop a start-up ecosystem in the space tech sector. During the launch of Vaanam, the minister said the state was keen on funding the space ecosystem.
Vaanam will reach out to schools and colleges and create ‘Space Clubs’ to inculcate space thinking among students and young people. Workshops will be conducted as part of the club,” said Sameer Bharat Ram, co-founder of Vaanam.
Vaanam co-founder Hariharan Vedamurthy said, “There’s a wide gamut of use cases in the space-tech sector in general and there’s ever-growing demand to bring these use cases to fruition.