SEDS Club | SRM University AP, Andhra Pradesh

School of Engineering and Sciences

Department of Physics

SEDS

Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) is a non-profit international student organisation whose purpose is to drive space advocacy of space exploration and development through educational, scientific, and engineering projects. Internationally, SEDS has branches in Canada, Israel, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, Sri Lanka, and Zimbabwe. The permanent National Headquarters for SEDS-USA resides at MIT, and that of SEDS-India resides at Vellore Institute of Technology. SEDS is organised by country, region, and chapter. Student leaders of the international groups convene as SEDS-Earth, the global governing body of SEDS.

Vision

Forming a closely-knit yet welcoming, professional, and space-themed community that would foster the enthusiasm of both its participants and leaders by supporting unique ideas, original endeavors and collaborative efforts.

Mission

Enabling multi-/inter-disciplinary collaboration and Generating awareness about disciplines relevant to space industry. (For example, Astrochemistry, Astrobiology, Astrovirology, Astroecology and Astro-robotics.)

Goals

Providing a platform, encouragement, and relevant support to individuals with the potential, talent, and zeal to contribute to the space sector and being creative in our approach to do so as well as instilling the curiosity into young individuals with disadvantaged backgrounds by providing resources and awareness through One Space outreach.

Tentative Year Plan

During the course of a 6-month semester, each month would observe an activity, thus, fulfilling SEDS’s requirement of organising specified 5 activities along with an ongoing project. This trend would repeat for the next semester with a new set of activities, thus, giving a planned layout for an year.)

SEMESTER –A MONTHLY ACTIVITIES

Space-MUN Event
Space Themed Comic and Digital Art contest
Webinar On Astroecology with Morgan Irons, 2017 Brooke Owens Fellow
Lecture Series on Origin of the Universe
Rover Workshop

SEMESTER –B MONTHLY ACTIVITIES

Asteroid Mining Info session
Space-themed game development & plot writing contest
Astrochemistry , Astrobiology & Planetary Science Webinar/conference
Telescope Workshop
Planetary Science Quiz

The Behind Story of SEDS at SRM AP

Efforts for the formation of a SEDS chapter at SRM University-AP began before December 2021, with Simran Kaushik, current president of SEDS SRM AP, a first-year student of BSc Physics (Honours).
Being a space enthusiast and having experience in several space-themed contests and events organised by SEDS chapters of other universities, she decided it was time to level up and bring one such organisation into SRM AP.
Brooke Owens Fellowship, a prestigious international fellowship centred around aerospace and astronomy, recommended her a few ways to gain out-of-the-classroom experiences relevant to space exploration through a support E-mail, with one piece of advice containing involvement with a SEDS organisation or a similar astronomy club, which would further enable her to be selected for space-themed fellowships and internships.
Connections through active SEDS participation and reaching out to SEDS India members equipped her with appropriate guidance to establish a SEDS Chapter herself.
For students who are passionate and curious about space science and exploration, SEDS SRM AP, a functional space club, began its journey.

SEDS Now

A plethora of research, planning, reaching out, meticulous writing, digital art, emailing, advertising, interviewing, recruiting and formal documenting began to pay off in upcoming months with the support from the faculty of the Department of Physics and active student participants. After formal recognition of SEDS SRMAP/Space Club through the SEAS Dean’s approval on March 01, 2023, all preparations for the Launchpad event were full-fledged and commenced.

On March 10, 2023, SEDS SRMAP organised their first-ever event consisting of a Space-themed Quiz, an Introductory/Inaugural Speech by the President, followed by a Movie Screening of The Martian, ending with the distribution of Thank You Cards containing QR codes for club application and a Playlist comprised of space-themed music. All participants received certificates.