Mission Patch

During October 1994 NASA and its Astronauts had selected Little Lillys English School [LLES]

Located in Mahalakshmi Layout, Bengaluru for SAREX [Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment].

R.Ramesh

Earlier Mr. R. Ramesh [VU2RMS], Principal of LLES trained 6 students in Ham Radio and obtained grade II licences in order to prepare them for this SAREX program. This program has been sponsored by American Radio Relay League [ARRL], AMSAT and NASA. SAREX inculcates the knowledge of Space Science, Amateur or HAM Radio, Computers, Astronomy and related subjects to young minds in schools all over the World. Selected LLES High school students were trained by Mr. R. Ramesh as to how they can ask questions to the astronauts about their Mission. The school was told in advance 96 hour and 37 minutes after the launch of the space shuttle that they should be ready for this unique space talk on 6th March 1995 at 1:30 IST

R. Mahalakshmi

R. Mahalakshmi [VU3LLY], Founder Secretary of LLES and wife of Mr. R. Ramesh gave tremendous support in training these LLES students. The result was that the students were fully prepared and confident to utilize the full 10 minutes available during the satellite shuttle pass. All this time Mr. R. Ramesh was periodically meticulously mentored by Mr. Frank Bauers KA3HDO a Ham Radio operator and scientist from Godard NASA space centre Maryland USA as to how to go about this SAREX project.

Dr. Tamara Jernigan

It was decided by the turn of events of this mission called Astro-2 aboard the space shuttle Endeavour that the woman member of the crew mentioned above in the patch Dr.Tamara Jernigan [KC5MGH] a ham operator was going to answer the questions put across by the LLES students.

The students 11 of them could not contain the excitement that a woman astronaut is going to be the teacher in their classroom at 1:30pm on 6th March 1995. At the time of this successful contact the space shuttle was orbiting over Hawaii and the VHF Ham Radio signals from the space shuttle Endeavour were received at San Diego by Radio Amateurs Lou Macfardin and Kerry who in turn beamed the received signals to the US communications Darome Centre who relayed the same via a Telebridge system into the class rooms of LLES via telephone.

The whole exercise was rehearsed 90 minutes before the actual talks between Marshal space centre Huntsville USA and the students.

The contact finally proved to be a great success.

Shree H. D. Deve Gowda (Former Prime-Minister of India)

Haradanahalli Doddegowda Deve Gowda is an Indian politician from the state of Karnataka. He served as the 11th prime minister of India from 1 June 1996 to 21 April 1997. He was previously the 14th Chief Minister of Karnataka from 1994 to 1996

The success rate of such space contacts via Ham Radio is usually around 50 to 60% due to communication blackouts, fading of signals, preoccupation of astronauts in their research etc. But in the case of LLES it was 100% and the questions asked by them were very pertinent. The last time such a space talk that took place in India was between Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma of India in a Space Mission on a Soviet Soyuz rocket in 1984.

Press reporters from Deccan Herald, Times of India and The Hindu were invited to be present during this space talk. Mr. Ramesh made adequate technical setup to broadcast all the two-way communications of the astronaut and the students on the telephone to a speaker system placed in the class room. Hence this achievement of speaking with the shuttle astronaut meant a lot for the team of 11 students of LLES students and was widely reported across India by various News papers like Deccan Herald, Times of India, Kannada news papers etc and many magazines like Information Technology [IT], News week, Electronics for you and during a TV Urdu news in Hyderabad.

Soon congratulatory letters started pouring in from the Commissioner of Public Instruction, Education Minister and others. There was also a word of praise from ISRO Space centre Bengaluru. The Chief Minister of Karnataka and the former Prime Minister of India Sri. H.D. Deve Gowda invited the LLES team involved in this effort to Vidhana Soudha and felicitated them. Concerned officials from NASA praised the efforts and were gracious to send the above patch and an autographed photo of astronaut Dr. Tamara Jernigan to LLES.

These items will remain as a cherished memory with the school and its students for many years to come.

Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment

School is a temple of knowledge. Knowledge and discipline go hand in hand. We at Little Lillys do not leave any stone unturned to see that students stepping out of our school become responsible citizens with human nature. This is accomplishing mainly because we believe in introducing innovative methods of teaching and educating the values of India’s rich culture and heritage. So that they step out into the world as confident and well-grounded citizens

Spoken to Astronaut Tamara Jernigan (NASA)

12 students of LLES spoke to Astronaut Tamara Jernigan Mission Commander of STS-67 shuttle mission using HAM Radio during 6th March 1995. A venture organized by NASA, ARRL & AMSAT termed SAREX experiments. LLES happens to be the first school in Asia to have successfully able to achieve this when mobiles and color TVs were yet to be introduced in the country. During this contact press reporters from Deccan Herald and Indian Express were present as special invitees. Special reports were published on 7th March 1995 in the above respective papers. The same paper cuttings are available with the school

Rajiv Gandhi Foundation National Award 1995

Received Rajiv Gandhi Foundation National award in 1995 at New Delhi

Amateur Radio Station

First school in India to set up its Amateur Radio Station in 1995 with call sign `VU3LLE’

Rajiv Gandhi Foundation National Award 1996

Awarded Rajeev Gandhi Foundation award second time in 1996 at New Delhi

International Science fair 2000

LLES High School student Venkata Subramaniam then studying in 9th standard was mentored in the science project 'Aluminum Powered Fuel Cells' for representing Republic of India at Detroit USA [15days] in International Students Science Fair in year 2000

He was the First student from Karnataka to ever represent his school in an International Science fair for High School students

Astronomical Newtonian reflecting Mirrors

Guided youngsters in the art of making astronomical Newtonian reflecting Mirrors for 6-inch astronomical telescopes. Built many kinds of reflecting type telescopes meant for serious astronomical work. The school itself possesses an 8-inch Shmidt Cassegrain Astronomical reflecting telescope

Van De Graaff Generator

Helped High school students to build working models of Van De Graaff Generator and the Stirling Heat Engine. These projects helped our students to achieve the First prize in High school modeling competition conducted by ISRO Bangalore. Also built the school’s Jacob’s ladder

Mind Strategies

Teaching advanced learning strategies like mind power, memory etc for school students