Following the suggestions made by the Shri. Amit Shah, Hon’ble Union Home Minister and President of the NESAC Society during the 12th meeting of the NESAC Society, a new program called “North East Student’s Program for Awareness, Reach and Knowledge on Space” (NE-SPARKS) has been launched to expose 800 students from the 8 states of North East region of India to the world of space and science. Funded by the Ministry of DoNER and State Governments in a 60:40 ratio, NE-SPARKS is a milestone initiative to connect the youth of the North East with India’s space programme.
The first batch under the program with ninety-nine students from the eight NER states has visited prominent centres of ISRO at Bangalore during 21-24 April, 2025. The two-day visit commenced with an interactive session led by Dr. V. Narayanan, Chairman, ISRO. The session was also witnessed by Dr. M. Ganesh Pillai, Scientific Secretary; Dr. A.K Anilkumar, Director, ISTRAC, Shri. M. Shankaran, Director, URSC, and Dr. S.P Aggarwal, Director, NESAC along with senior officials from ISRO Headquarters and ISTRAC. Students had the opportunity to visit the Satellite Control Centre (SCC), Mission Operations Complex (MOX), and the Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) at Byalalu, gaining first hand insight into satellite operations and deep space communications.
NESAC, in collaboration with ISRO’s Capacity Building Programme Office (CBPO), successfully coordinated the first edition of NE-SPARKS. The team from NESAC was led by Dr. Jonali Goswami, Program Coordinator, Outreach and Capacity Building, NESAC, along with Dr. Francis Dutta, Scientist/Engineer-SD, and Shri Sumanth B.C., Scientist/Engineer-SD. Shri Sanabam Sujen Singh represented the North Eastern Council (NEC), Government of India.
On the second day, students explored satellite integration activities at UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC) They have also visited the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium with an engaging lecture by Dr. B.R Guruprasad, Director, Jawaharlal Nehru Planetariumand a planetarium show on Gaganyaan.
