Last week, my little brother had his first internship experience with Team Indus, Bangalore, and was motivated enough to write a blog post titled “To the Moon and Beyond” about it! Feeling very proud and would like to share his writing here on my blog to showcase his budding talent. Hope you all enjoy it 🙂

******************************************

Last week, I had my first internship and exposure to corporate life at a space research organization called Team Indus in Bangalore.  When I signed up for the Younglings internship at Team Indus, my intentions were to introduce myself to space research and get an experience of a work environment.  My minimal knowledge of the subject did not prove to be a problem as the engineers began from the basics, simplifying the concepts to the level of high school physics and math, while ensuring that each session was interactive and involved discussions.

The engineers at Team Indus introduced complex topics like rocket propulsion, avionics and guidance navigation in an effective and practical style, which reinforced the concepts we learnt at school.  It was interesting to explore the numerous subsystems of a spacecraft, something that I have always been curious to know.  In addition, we realized the level of difficulty and precision required by engineers and physicists in their tests and calculations as even the smallest error could create a major fault with the design or working of the spacecraft.

We were introduced to two innovative applications: MATLAB and GMAT. The former is a programming software that has a variety of applications such as decoding sound and images and predicting sizes of objects captured by cameras in space. The latter, on the other hand, is of extreme value in plotting the trajectory of a spacecraft in orbit. Being able to experiment with the several functions on these applications while solving related worksheets with the instructor’s help was a privilege and added to the overall professional atmosphere of the internship.

The highlight for me was the Rover navigation mission, which ended up being a lot harder than what we see on screen or in the movies. This tested our team immensely and reinforced the importance of communication and collaboration in such missions.  I loved the overall experience of learning from real-world engineers and absorbing as much as I could throughout the week.

This internship turned out to be one of the most interesting and rewarding experiences of my life. It has given me fresh perspective on what I might pursue in the future and opened my future academic career to new possibilities.

For more information about Team Indus and its groundbreaking work, check out the following links:

•  https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/teamindus-hitches-a-ride-to-the-moon-with-nasa/article25643536.ece
•  https://www.indianweb2.com/2018/10/29/discovery-channel-to-air-story-of-indian-spacetech-startup-team-indus-that-aimed-for-the-moon/

Written by Adithya Ramji
Greenwood High School, Class 12 Student
12 May 2019

Photographs by Team Indus, Bangalore