Who among us hasn’t looked up at the night sky and pondered the deep dark secrets of the boundless reaches of the cosmos. The young and brilliant minds delve into the mystic tomes of astrophysics and aerospace to answer the intrinsic question in all our minds. But the treacherous path of studying for the relevant degrees puts many young minds off of this wonderous question. Space Kidz provides various programs to inspire the young aspiring students to hone their skills and build functional space equipment. Space Kidz is the first organisation in the World to have launched satellites through high school and college students. It was the founded by Dr. Srimathy Kesan, a brilliant entrepreneur from Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu, with a mission to inspire the young aspiring engineers to forge their paths in the field of aerospace.
Dr. Srimathy Kesan, was a homemaker, until she finally decided to plunge into entrepreneurship and enter the unlikely field of aerospace. According to Dr. Kesan, Rocket science is considered to be extremely difficult, but children have it within them to excel at it. She knew that professionally it is done at ISRO, but she asked herself, if given a platform, could these children do it? That's when she started Space Kidz and moved to satellite research.
She started by handpicking a team of students. She believes that you don’t have to be a scientist or engineer to make other engineers and scientists. She wanted to create scientists, especially space scientists for the country, as young as high school kids. People mocked her and laughed initially saying that because she’d sat at home for 16 years, she had lost it and was trying to do something impossible. But when people say something is impossible, the bug itches and she feels like she has to do it.
Space Kidz India is an Indian Aerospace startup pioneering in design, fabrication and launch of small satellites, spacecrafts and ground systems. Their goal is to provide economical and sustainable access to space to cater the needs of education, research and the industry. With over 7 years of experience, they have launched 18 NSLV’s (Balloon Sats), 4 Suborbital Payloads and 4 Orbital Satellites. They are the first organisation in the World to have launched satellites through high school and college students. Space Kidz India is also ambassadors to the NASA, ESA and GCTC Russia Space Camps.
Space Kidz is currently moving from the R&D phase to the commercial phase, that is commercialisation of satellites. They already have 10 universities and research schools that have signed up with them commercially. They’ve also built their satellite buses, wherein any passenger can be put into the bus and be taken into space. The program has launched about 25 satellites, 18 balloon satellites, three suborbital satellites and four orbital launches since then.