25-year-old Indian scientist launches Kiwi rocket

By siliconindia   |   Tuesday, 22 December 2009, 14:59 IST
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25-year-old Indian scientist launches Kiwi rocket
Bangalore: The talk of the small South Pacific island nation - Nikhil Raghu, a 25-year old Indian scientist who played a major role in the launch of New Zealand's first rocket Atea-1 on November 30. He was the Senior Engineer on the project,which was a private initiative, of a company named Rocket Lab, reports Neethu Reghukumar of Bangalore Mirror. Atea-1 is six metres long and weighs 60 kg. It released a two kg payload at an altitude of 120 km above Earth. It will help in scientific research and collect data on climate change. It also carried an USB containing 22,000 messages sent by clients in the name of their loved ones. Raghu says, "With a lot of focus on climate change, these rockets can fill the gap in collecting scientific data. Even universities, which require data from space, can use its services. We have several clients who want to work on climate change and collect details from space." He also added that Rocket Lab is analysing data from Atea and plans to launch a series of rockets. "There is a plan to build a larger rocket weighing 70 kg with a hybrid rocket engine." Raghu said, "I put three years of hard work into the project. Technical glitches are common in space launches. So, when there was a delay in the launch, I was worried. But eventually, everything went off smoothly. After the launch, I was speechless with joy." Raghu studied in P T A School at Jayanagar, Bangalore till 1994 when his parents Meera and M D Raghu shifted to the South Pacific nation. Space became a passion for Raghu during his growing up years in New Zealand. As Senior Engineer, Raghu was part of the three-member core team for the project. Among other things, he was responsible for high level analytical computations. He holds a Master of Engineering degree, specialising in failure analysis of advanced composite structures and has presented a number of papers in the field of propulsion. In Rocket Lab, he leads the CFD and structural code modelling, vehicle trajectory, thermodynamics and composite structures. He is involved in propulsion testing and data analysis.

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