A memorandum of understanding was made and executed between Vijnana Bharati (VIBHA) and Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) at Bhopal on 24th January 2023. The purpose of this MoU was to share ISRO’s exhibition vehicle, ‘Space on Wheels’, in science programmes and exhibitions organized by VIBHA in various parts of India. Its scope was to include organisations like AICTE, CBSE and other scientific institutions, and organize various STEM outreach programmes under Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav and beyond.
The coincidence was such that on National Technology Day, 11 May 2023, the Space on Wheels tour started from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, where the MoU was signed. The then chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, flagged off the tour and it continued for 35 days, exhibiting ISRO’s missions at 29 places in 2 cities.
ISRO has readied and made one such bus available at each of its six centers. The one that visited Madhya Pradesh was from NRSC, Hyderabad. The next started from NESAC and covered Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura for seven days and 26 days respectively. The difficult terrain was no hurdle for the enthusiastic volunteers of VIBHA. The inauguration programme at Dera Natung Government College (DNGC), Itanagar, Papum Pare, in Arunachal Pradesh, was a resounding success. As many as 3451 visitors thronged to the six exhibitions that were held in five villages/ towns/ cities of Arunachal Pradesh.
All Images Courtesy: VIBHA
Antariksha Anusandhan Yatra, the tour of Tripura, started on 16 November 2023 and over the next 26 days, the bus travelled to eight villages/ towns/ cities. A total of 32,950 visitors, including school children from 178 schools, visited the exhibitions that were held at 23 locations. Special educational activities were organised during the yatra. These included a quiz, Meet the Scientist, cultural programmes, a rally, Speech Competition, Popular Talk, etc. A special memento with the picture of Chandrayaan 3 was designed and given to each organising school and dignitaries present at each venue.
The Space on Wheels bus from VSSC, Thiruvananthapuram, covered two districts of Kerala in the month of October 2023 and then again in January-February 2024. The well-coordinated efforts of Swadeshi Science Movement, the Kerala arm of Vijnana Bharati, benefitted 16,000 visitors who visited nine exhibitions over a period of 15 days.
The अंतरिक्ष महा-यात्रा — the Vidarbha tour of Space on Wheels, broke all previous records of tour duration, the distance covered, number of exhibitions held, the village/town/city count, the number of schools that participated, and the number of total visitors. The tour, which was flagged off on 15 August 2023 by the Dy CM of Maharashtra Devandra Fadnavis from Divisional Commissioner’s office in Nagpur, ended on 21 March 2024 at Nagpur, after covering all 11 districts of the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. In 11 districts of Vidarbha, Space on Wheels covered 5108 kms in 149 days, visited 134 schools, and had a footfall of 490099 visitors.
The mobile application and website developed for the tour, played an important role in its successful execution. The ViBhaVid-SoW mobile application allows interested participants to register in advance for the competitions and to visit the Space on Wheels exhibition planned in their village. The advance information about expected number of visitors also helps the organisers to plan the exhibition better. The mobile application includes features like tracing the location of the bus while on tour, knowing in advance the locations and dates of exhibitions in each district, knowing the competitions planned at each exhibition location, winners of competitions, photos and videos of each exhibition, etc. For more details of the tour, pictures, videos, etc., a more elaborate website www.vibhasow.com has been launched. The website shows the current location of the bus, number of visitors at the previous location, the distance between the locations where the bus is scheduled to visit and much more.
The concluding function of अंतरिक्ष महा-यात्रा was graced by ISRO chairman S Somanath as the chief guest who was accompanied by eight of his colleagues and Directors/ Dy Directors of various ISRO departments. The 2200-strong audience, which included hundreds of participants from all 11 districts of Vidarbha, were excited by the warm gesture of the ISRO chairman, who not only interacted with students but also took selfies with them and answered their queries. One school from each of the 11 districts of Vidarbha, which invited and entertained maximum visitors, was felicitated with a memento from the ISRO chairman.
VIBHA, honoring the MoU in letter and spirit, will showcase the achievements of ISRO covering the remaining states and continue for a period of five years as committed in the MoU. Where each bus of the current fleet of six Space on Wheel buses cost ISRO approximately Rs 1.25 crores, it took only three months for ISRO to build them. The coming years may see the newer versions of Space on Wheels which may carry more advanced and working models of rockets, satellites, rovers, landers and more importantly, the success stories of how our space mission has improved the lives of Indians.
VIBHA wishes all the very best to ISRO for the upcoming missions and also looks forward to the day when VIBHA volunteers will be travelling with the Space on Wheels, carrying the models of the successful Gaganyaan mission.
*The writer is a Nagpur-based IT consultant, with over 35 years experience in India and abroad, who is also a national general council member of Vijnana Bharati.
