Dominican Engineers Complete Nanosatellite Training at ISRO, in India
New Delhi - On December 15th, 2022, Dominican Aerospace Engineers Edwin Sánchez and Iván Jiménez, affiliated with INTEC University, completed the UNNATI nanosatellite training program offered by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The two-month training, in which representatives from 19 countries participated, took place at the ISRO facilities in Bangalore, the capital of the state of Karnataka.
With more than fifty years of experience in research, ISRO is one of the most respected space agencies in the world. Between 2018 and 2022, ISRO provided its services to countries like Australia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, and Israel, launching 177 foreign satellites into orbit.
The UNNATI (Unispace Nano Satellite Assembly and Training by ISRO) program, funded by the government of India, was created to provide citizens of developing countries with the opportunity to participate in an intensive course on the construction of nanosatellites. The training program also seeks to equip the participants with practical training to assemble, integrate and test low-cost modular nanosatellites.
Edwin Sánchez and Iván Jiménez, professors at the Technological Institute of Santo Domingo (INTEC), are in the midst of building the first Dominican nanosatellite. Mr. Sánchez is the president of the Dominican Aerospace Association.
At the end of their training, the engineers were received in New Delhi by the Ambassador of the Dominican Republic to the Republic of India, H.E. David Puig. During the meeting, they exchanged about the UNNATI program and potential opportunities for collaboration between the Dominican Republic and India in the aerospace sector.
Ambassador Puig stressed that "ISRO included the Dominican Republic in the UNNATI initiative at the request of the Embassy of the Dominican Republic in India." He also mentioned the importance of this type of initiative, claiming that they allow "to encourage the exchange of experiences in the field of science and technology, and to create links between researchers." He also pointed out that "the Indian Space Agency could be an important ally in the process of forming a space agency in the Dominican Republic and developing skills for our professionals in the sector".