At the age of 13, she is intrigued by the concept of a parallel universe, has in depth knowledge of Greek mythology, constellations and stars, and has spent a day at a stone’s throw from the Chandrayaan 2.
Meet Dhriti Barnwal, a class 8 student of Delhi Public School, Ranchi, who was one of the 108 children in India to be selected for Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) YUVIKA programme, targeted at providing young students exposure to space research.
Daughter of a senior bureaucrat in Jharkhand, Dhriti went on a once in a lifetime trip to the world of space research from May 13 to May 25. From interacting with the leading brains of ISRO at Bangalore’s UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC) to getting a seat at the clean room of Chandrayaan 2 at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, Dhriti has experienced a world that a child of her age may only get to imagine about by reading books and watching documentaries.
“The most memorable moment from the trip has to be our visit to the Chandrayaan 2’s clean room. I could see the satellite from a stone’s throw and it was certainly a once in a lifetime experience,” she said.
ISRO launched a special programme for school children called Young Scientist Programme or ‘YUva VIgyani KAryakram’ this year, in tune with the Government's vision ‘Jai Vigyan, Jai Anusandhan’.
It is aimed at imparting basic knowledge on Space Technology, Space Science and Space Applications to the younger ones with the intent of arousing their interest in the emerging areas of Space activities. The programme is aimed at creating awareness among the youngsters who are the future building blocks of the country. ISRO has chalked out this programme to ‘Catch them young’.
Dhriti does not want to follow the crowd and pursue engineering or medical. Instead, she aspires to crack the Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana (KVPY) of the government of India and become a space scientist.
“In nine years, I want to land in ISRO. I have always been interested in research work, and this trip has taken in interest to another level,” she said.
The Pioneer is carrying a six-part series on her experience in the trip, in her own words, for little scientists aspiring to book a ticket to ISRO.
