Chennai, Feb 12: Students of two schools in the suburbs got to image stunning Earth photos through camera onboard the International Space Station Sally Ride EarthKAM workshop organised by SPACE, Chennai recently. A press note here said about 100 hi-res colour images of different locations were captured through ISS camera in this NASA mission. Students of Velammal Vidhyashram, Mambakkam and HLC International School, Karanai, participated. The Sally Ride EarthKAM programme allows students to request photographs of specific Earth features, which are taken by a special camera mounted on the International Space Station when it passes over those features. Since 1998 more than 50,000 photos have been taken during 50 missions on the space station via this programme, the only one that gives students such direct control of an instrument on a spacecraft orbiting Earth. EarthKAM (Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School students) is an outreach programme run in collaboration with SPACE Technology and Education Pvt. Ltd. in India. The programme was inaugurated by Velammal Vidyashram principal B Raghupathy, who urged the students to make use of this opportunity to study the earth from the unique perspective of SPACE.
HCL International School principal Sudha Mahesh lauded the work of SPACE and encouraged students to make use of this opportunity to understand the diversity on earth. SPACE Zonal Manager S Venkata Narayanan highlighted the Sally Ride Earth KAM project and also motivated the students to pursue programmes in astronomy and space science which was the need of the hour. Students also watched a video clipping of life at international space station. B Rohan Alroy, school pupil leader at Velammal Vidhyashram, said, ‘All students enjoyed the programme and got to know some science, history and geography of a few areas’. Saketh S D, a student of HLC International school said, ‘It was an enthralling experience to see and take photos from the ISS. It proved a valuable learning tool’.