SEP | 2021
w w w. t e c h f a s t l y. c o m
In Conversation with
RAJIV JAYARAMAN Founder-CEO, KNOLSKAPE
In conversation with
Darpan Inani
INDIA’S HIGHEST RATED
Visually Impaired Chess Player Bronze Medalist, World Junior Championship (2013)
SPAC E SPECIAL EDITION
MISSIONS C O M M U N I CAT I O N S AT E L L I T E L AU N C H E R S
T EC H N O LO GY S PAC E T R AV E L AND SO MUCH MORE..
What’s Inside MISSIONS
SATELLITE LAUNCHERS
p.4 Space Travel: A Giant
p.49 How Artificial Intelligence
Leap of Mankind
Is Helping With Space Exploration
by Apurva Minchekar
p.14 Europa Clipper Mission to
Determine Whether Icy Moon Has Signs for Life
by Rehan Husain
p.55 The Impact of AI in
Satellite Imagery
by Rehan Husain
p.22 Richard Branson’s
Virgin Galactic
by Toulika Das
p.63 The Superpressure
Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT)
by Vibha Soni
p.30
In Conversation With Rajiv Jayaraman, Founder-CEO, KNOLSKAPE
p.42 Small Sat Launcher: The
Future of New Space Age by Johnson Cherian
by Ragini Agarwal
p.68
In Conversation With Darpan Inani, India’s Highest Rated Visually Impaired Chess Player
TECH - COMMUNICATION p.74 Inspiration4: The First
All-Civilian Mission To Orbit by Shantanu Trivedi
p.82 Role of Space-Based
Communications in 5G Era by Umar Nabi
p.90 SpaceX, The Future
Lies Here
by Utsav Mishra
p.95 Sputnik’s Legacy by Barkha Sheth
Editor’s note
Dear Readers July marked a pivotal time in the private sector’s push to commercialize space travel. With the sub-orbital flights made by Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos, the privatization of the space industry has gained irreversible momentum. This edition takes a peek at Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin’s space venture and what this means for the space tourism industry. Know this, the concept of sight-seeing in space isn’t new by any means. In fact the idea has been in the making from the ’90s, at least for Richard Branson. He trademarked “Virgin Galactic Airways” in 1999 and licensed the SpaceShipOne technology. Mr Branson hoped that a more extensive version could begin commercial flights within three years. But it took 17 years instead. While we are on the subject of sub-orbital flights, go ahead and delve further into a swelling ecosystem of start-ups that are attempting to build everythingfrom small-sat launchers to satellite data applications infused with the next-gen of AI and ML. An exciting time indeed for the space industry and science on the whole. Could AI-powered imagery help us glimpse into the far recesses of the universe that have remained mainly in the dark until now? Moving away from all the technical bells and whistles of space science, we take an inspirational (no pun intended) trip alongside the crew of Inspiration4 – The first all civilian crew of astronauts who plan to spend
three days in orbit come September. Speaking of Inspiration4, did you know that the spacecraft being used is developed by SpaceX and will be launched into space atop a 215-ft.-tall SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Read more on Space X’s plans and how Elon Musk intends to see his glorious plan to reach Mars to fruition, on Page 90. And finally, we take a step back into time, when it all started - with Sputnik, the first satellite to be launched into space. Sputnik’s legacy forms a part of our ongoing series ‘Story of Machines’, where we roll back the curtains and explore the innovations that form the backbone of today’s advances in science and tech. In our interview series, we spoke with Rajiv Jayaraman, Founder-CEO, KNOLSKAPE. KNOLSKAPE has grown into a leading player in the corporate learning space under his leadership. He talked about his journey, the concept of digital BLUR, and how leadership skill has evolved over the years. During our conversation, he explained about the award-winning solution ‘Digital Transformation Champions’ and how companies are adopting it. Finally, he gave some great advices for young entrepreneurs. We also spoke with the India’s strongest blind chess player, Darpan Inani. He spoke about his struggles, life-journey and the impact of technology in his life. As always, we would appreciate your feedback, and if there were a topic you would love for us to cover, do let us know. Here is your edition. Read it, enjoy it, and nourish in the knowledge. Happy reading!
Srikant Rawat
Chief Operating Officer, Techfastly
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Space Travel A Giant Leap of Mankind by Apurva Minchekar Over the years of science and technology development in history, scientists and researchers have made space travel possible for consumers other than astronauts.
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SEP 2021
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ne of the exciting industries for consumers is the combination of space and tourism. Over the years of science and technology development in history, scientists and researchers have made space travel possible for consumers other than astronauts. As a kid, everyone would dream of what space looks like outside their science textbooks, and a few privately-owned companies have taken a step forward to explore more about space —one of them being- Blue Origin, owned by Jeff Bezos. Once asked about his future plans in 2000 in an interview, he jokingly mentioned how he would want to explore space if not his dotcom business. Twenty years later, in 2020, Jeff Bezos travelled to space in the first ever civilian crewed spacecraft, and now the primary focus of the company is space tourism. Recently, NASA announced the appointment of Blue Virgin’s team for their
Artemis mission to the moon that includes Lockheed Martin, Draper and Northrop Grunnman on the board.
Other privately-owned companies working towards going to the space are:
SpaceX
Orion Space
SpaceX founded by Elon Musk that has launched its Crew Dragon spacecraft to International Space Station.
Orion Space founded by Frank Burger that aims to build a space station and hotel accommodation- Aurora Space Station.
Virgin Galactic
Sierra Nevada Corporation
Virgin Galactic owned by Richard Branson who is the first civilian to travel to space and aims to begin its paid passenger service soon.
Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) that has worked with US Air Force and NASA in building space aircrafts and its components.
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In Conversation with
RAJIV JAYARAMAN Founder-CEO, KNOLSKAPE A TEDX SPEAKER AND A LEADING THOUGHT LEADER IN THE SPACE OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AND LEARNING
Rajiv Jayaraman is the FounderCEO of KNOLSKAPE and serves on its board of directors. He has played a pivotal role in creating an award-winning portfolio of experiential learning products and is responsible for KNOLSKAPE’s global business strategy and growth. Under his leadership, KNOLSKAPE has grown into a leading player in the corporate learning space.
A TEDx speaker and a leading thought leader in the space of digital transformation and learning, Rajiv has keen interest in the psychology of learning, design and technology. He works with CXOs and senior leaders of leading organizations to help them transform talent for the digital age. He trains and coaches senior leaders across many Fortune 500 companies on leading innovation, change and risk. Prior to KNOLSKAPE, he worked at Oracle USA in the server technologies division, where he led numerous product development efforts from the ground-up.
An INSEAD MBA, Rajiv earned his bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from BITS, Pilani. Rajiv has been widely quoted and featured in Economic Times, Business Standard, Live Mint, CNBC Young Turks, ET Now, Digital Learning magazine, Entrepreneur magazine and Yourstory.in.
Q|
Tell us a little about your journey with KNOLSKAPE. How did it begin and what are your plans now for further growth?
The corporate learning business model of KNOLSKAPE started in 2013. In the last eight years, KNOLSKAPE has been working with more than 375 leading enterprises across 75 countries. We have touched close to a million users or learners worldwide across all of these organizations. This journey has been an exciting one, where I’ve been able to see from close quarters, the talent challenges faced by various industries across geographies and across various career levels within the organization. KNOLSKAPE essentially is an experiential learning provider. Our mission is to help organizations and employees become future-ready through experiential learning. Why experiential learning? Experiential learning is important in today’s context because, in the digital age, where disruption is becoming the norm, the rapid transformation of mindsets and skillsets is an order. We need a methodology that helps organizations, leaders, individuals to quickly unlearn and relearn new mindsets and skillsets. The traditional learning models are falling apart, and that’s why we need a technology-enabled experiential learning methodology coupled with talent analytics.
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