Vasundhara Shiradhonkar, An Indian Scientist Creates Flying Lab On Satellite

The country’s pride rose as Vasundhara Shiradhonkar’s contribution made history in space paradigm. On Wednesday, Soyuz rocket took off with one-of-a-kind satellite OPS-SAT from Guiana Space Center located in the north of Brazil. Shriadhonkar, an alumna of Shri Guru Gobind Singhaji Institute of Engineering at Nanded in Maharashra, played a vital role in making the pursuit a success. She contributed by aiding the selection of experiments of the satellite during the testing programs. Besides, she is also a part of the four-member flying control team.

Key Takeaways:

• OPS-SAT launched in the orbit contained in the Soyuz Rocket. It took off from a launching pad in the Guiana Space Center.
• Vasundhara Shriadhonkar played a key role in selecting the experiments for the satellite at the European Space Operation Centre in Germany.
• She is also a member of the flying control team.
• Vasundhara Shriadhonkar is an alumna of Shri Guru Gobind Singhaji Institute of Engineering in Nanded, Maharashtra.
• She is an experiment infrastructure engineer at the European Space Operation Centre.
• The OPS-SAT is designed by the European Space Agency at Darmstadt, Germany. The satellite is 30 cm high and contains the most powerful inflight computers to date.

The OPS-SAT is a satellite designed by the European Space Agency at Darmstadt, Germany. It will orbit the space as a large-scale software lab.

OPS-SAT: A flying lab in the orbit

The OPS-SAT is a satellite designed by the European Space Agency at Darmstadt, Germany. It will orbit the space as a large-scale software lab. The satellite is 30 cm high and contains the most powerful inflight computers to date.  On Wednesday, when it was finally launched inside the Soyuz rocket, Shiradhonkar expressed her delight and told Times of India, “It was a great feeling to watch the rocket take-off!” She further added, “My role was to provide an interface between the experimenters and the processing platform. The job also involved making sure that the experiments are safe to run.”

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Shiradhonkar is a part of Terma Gambh, a German company with its headquarters at Darmstadt. It has a contract with the European Space Agency. Subsequently, Vasundhara is an experiment infrastructure engineer at the European Space Operation Centre. OPS-SAT is her recent project. This mission is devoted towards improving the mission control capabilities as more satellites will orbit with powerful inflight computers in the offing.

A woman excelling in Space and Technology

Vasundhara Shriadhonkar is an engineering graduate from Shri Guru Gobind Singhaji Institute of Engineering in 2008. Yashwant V Joshi, the director of the college told Times of India, “She was a very active learner. Always on her toes and always eager to learn new things. She also participated in various student activities. She’s made us all very proud.”

Vasundhara Shriadhonkar played a key role in selecting the experiments for the satellite at the European Space Operation Centre in Germany.

After finishing her BTech, Shriadhonkar worked in Pune for a while and then took off to Germany for her master's degree. Today, she is a space engineer facilitating and witnessing one of the historical moments in space and technology.

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Rudrani Kumari is an intern with SheThePeople.TV.