inmauritius

Space University: Southern

Hemisphere - Space Studies
Program (ISU: SH-SSP) to
Mauritius so that students,
young professionals of any discipline with an interest in
space and space enthusiasts in
Mauritius can benefit from the
resources of ISU and its huge
network of astronauts, engineers, policy makers and
lawyers," said the
Communications Manager.
Intending to implement this
project in Mauritius and
Australia, Inderjeet stated
that," I've found how small and
interconnected the aerospace
and space industries are here,
in Australia and internationally. I quickly understood how to
grow my network and climb up
the ladder with a good academic background." For many
years now, he has tried to use
his aerospace network to slowly promote Mauritius and its
capability, diversity, good governance, financial stability and
man resources in Australia
and internationally."
He further added, "Now, if I
succeed to bring the
International Space University
(ISU) to Mauritius, this will
enable the participants of the
ISU program in Mauritius to
participate in a lot of aerospace-related projects such as
stratospheric balloon launch,
CubeSat development and
deployment, panel discussions
usually involving astronauts,
public events and workshops.
He said that these projects
would also put Mauritius in
the global map for world-space

Ishraj presenting
Mauritius to the ISU:
SH-SSP 2016 participants and staff

leaders. Above all, it will initiate an increase in interest in

the Mauritian public and hopefully the politicians towards
space, and eventually leading
to a national space agency in
Mauritius. Space is a new market with a lot of free resources
that can benefit the Mauritian
economy largely!"
However, Inderjeet stated
that bringing the ISU to
Mauritius is a big effort
indeed! It requires the active
participation and financial
support of the Mauritian
Government, academic facilities such as universities in
Mauritius, public interest,
involvement of Mauritian participants in the program,

Mauritius has
a lot of very
smart people,
a great economy and
should start
getting
involved in the
space
applications
at least.

affordable accommodation for

the ISU participants, amongst
others.
Inderjeet has always dreamt
of going to space. "For me,
'Space is home.' I live every day
of my life, dwelling about
activities going on in space. To
embark on my journey to
space, I chose aerospace engineering as it opens up opportunities in both space science
and engineering sectors
He added, "the space sector
is not an easy place to find job
at but with perseverance,
patience, discipline, hard work
and an international network, I
believe I can achieve my
goal...and eventually, become
an astronaut someday! For
now, I am slowly paving my
way to space on the ground.
Last summer, I did an internship at the Mount Stromlo
Observatory in Canberra
(Australia), where I have been
working closely with lead scientists and engineers on the
development of CubeSats."
Inderjeets aim is to establish a space-based business
that will someday help him
earn a living, solve the world's
biggest problems and at the
same time, allow him to enjoy
his passion which is Space and
the Universe.
Thinking about the positive
aspects that he has noticed
since he have started working
and studying in Australia,
Inderjeet explained, " Studying
in Australia has been one of
the best experiences of my life!
With a diversity of people from
the world over, sometimes it

F R I D A Y

just does not feel that I am in a

foreign land. There is practically everything here, ranging
from different cuisines, latest
fashion trends, cultural heritage to the best city life."
Inderjeet explained, I can
only talk from an aerospace
perspective but I believe there
are other fields that are experiencing a similar 'brain drain'
in Mauritius unfortunately.
He believes Mauritius has a
lot of very smart people, a
great economy and should
start getting involved in the
space applications at least.
Universities in Mauritius
should consider aerospace
engineering as potential program for their curriculum for
space is a new and highlyregarded market with free
resources such as asteroid mining that can suddenly boost the
Mauritian economy to a new
level." According to him,
Universities in Mauritius
should work with youngers
and train farmers in the development and flight of CubeSats
and drones for remote sensing
and Earth Observation of
Mauritius, thereby monitoring
and better harvesting crops.
"Although in some aspects
Australia is more beneficial, to
me 'home will always be home.'
Once I gather enough money
and skills from Australia, I
plan to go back one day and
help grow the space sector in
Mauritius, and hopefully have
a Mauritian Space Agency one
day and eventually, a
Mauritian astronaut," concluded Inderjeet.

F E B R U A R Y

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