Bengaluru:

As many as 36,000 students of government schools will get to see, feel and learn all about space expeditions, including the upcoming Indian private lunar mission of TeamIndus. Thanks to Moonshot Wheels, which is a snazzy looking bus carrying spacecraft models and 16 experiments.

It was flagged off by Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons Ltd, on Tuesday.

Space startup TeamIndus is sending a lander and rover to Moon towards the end of this year on an Indian PSLV rocket. It is one of the five teams contesting in a $ 2-million global race called the Google Lunar X Prize.

The bus, of TeamIndus Foundation, will traverse 11 States and 12,500 km over the next 12 months and interact with children in rural and semi-urban schools along the route.

They will be encouraged to imagine what they would like to send to space and present the concepts to the expedition team. These ideas and dreams will be sent up in a concrete form on TeamIndus’s actual Moon capsule.

A few scientists will also travel on the bus. It will carry a model of the Moonshot capsule which, according to TeamIndus, “will be filled with the aspirations of the children whom the bus meets on its journey. These aspirations will then fly aboard the spacecraft to Moon.”

The foundation said Moonshot Wheels will excite the next generation and inspire it about science and technology. TeamIndus has tied up with Agastya International Foundation for the venture.

The bus will educate the children about space through immersive technologies, live satellite tracking, the Moon rover, a spacecraft model and an experience zone.

Each child will get an opportunity to experience and understand the making of a space mission and its technologies. They can interact with rocket scientists and the team behind India’s first private Moon mission, Rahul Narayan of TeamIndus and Ramji Raghavan of Agastya Foundation said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Special Correspondent / February 08th, 2017