Teen is fellow of 200-yr-old UK society

Bhubaneswar: Since childhood, Snehadeep Kumar had his head in the clouds. The stars, moon and planets fascinated him and over time that paved the way for him to be accepted as a fellow of the prestigious Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), London.
“I am very happy and excited to have been selected as a fellow at the RAS. It is a very prestigious organization and I would like to do my research in the field of radio-astrophysics,” said Kumar (18), a first-year BTech student of KIIT, a deemed to be university, in Bhubaneswar.
The Royal Astronomical Society, founded in 1820, has around 4,000 members from across the world. Having been selected as a fellow of RAS, Kumar can now have access to library, archives and research grants.
A resident of Durgapur in West Bengal, Kumar’s father Tushar Kanti works at Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) while his mother is a homemaker. “Since childhood I have been fascinated with astronomy and have been engaged in various research activities,” said Kumar.
In May 2021, he launched an online journal to help students with original research but with limited financial means. He reached out to friends from across the globe through Discord, a messaging platform, and soon he had a team in place for the launch of Aurora Academic Journal, an interdisciplinary online magazine for students to publish research work. It accepts entries from round the globe, across disciplines and gets around 500 hits daily.
Kumar is also the co-founder of Nebula Space Organization, a startup run entirely by students. Asked about his future plans, Kumar said, “Our 60-member team at Nebula Space, comprising researchers and students from across the world, have been working on launching the world’s smallest space telescope by 2023-24.”
Kumar said he has completed all theory work for making the smallest space telescope and a self-landing rocket model. “Our work has been recognized and sponsored by Harvard University’s CYES and Microsoft. They have helped us in providing resource and knowledge. We are waiting for funding to make the prototype,” he said.
Kumar said he loves to be in touch with scientists and they help him improve his problem-solving skills.
“When kids of his age are busy playing on smartphones, he remains engrossed in books and computers. He used to talk about going to NASA and interacts with scientists from across the globe,” said Kumar’s dad.