Megha Mahima Wijewardane is a Sri Lankan-Australian Space and

Aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...

activist, and the youngest ambassador for

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

's OSIRIS-Rex mission representing

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

since 2018. Megha had a passion for

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

since a remarkably young age. In 2017, when he was 7 years old, he participated in the 2017 NASA Space Apps challenge and did a presentation on the

atmosphere of Earth The atmosphere of Earth is composed of a layer of gas mixture that surrounds the Earth's planetary surface (both lands and oceans), known collectively as air, with variable quantities of suspended aerosols and particulates (which create weather ...

. There, he won the Northrop Grumman Prize by competing with university students and

aerospace engineers Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...

. In 2018, Megha participated in NASA's Space Apps challenge. He worked on a solution for the Bennu asteroid which is at risk of colliding with Earth in the future. For that, he had the opportunity to do some research on

Bennu Bennu () is an ancient Egyptian deity linked with the Sun, creation, and rebirth. He may have been the original inspiration for the phoenix legends that developed in Greek mythology. Roles According to Egyptian mythology, Bennu was a self-crea ...

and

’s

OSIRIS-REx OSIRIS-REx was a NASA asteroid-study and sample-return mission that visited and collected samples from 101955 Bennu, a C-type asteroid, carbonaceous near-Earth object, near-Earth asteroid. The material, returned in September 2023, is expected ...

mission. After that, in 2018, he participated in the ActInSpace challenge. In that challenge, he became the youngest team leader and youngest entrepreneur in Australia to start a business plan solution for science and technology. With

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

, he assisted in a project to find a solution to identify ships - primarily fishing vessels - even though they have turned off their location

transponder In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''. In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a flight trans ...

s. Due to these events, he caught the attention of

and received an opportunity to go for a

ambassadorship.

, after checking his health conditions and social relations, offered him the position of

ambassador for the

mission. As he was an ambassador, the University of Arizona – LPL (Luna and Planetary Laboratory) offered him training. He was able to complete their training by scoring 100% marks on some of their tests.

Early life

Wijewardane was born on 29 March 2010 in

Adelaide, Australia Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

. He is an Australian of Sri Lankan origin. He is the son of creative designer Charith Wijewardane and the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of Chakra FM Doshanthri Ranatunge. His grandfather is a Sri Lankan newspaper

comic a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicat ...

artist Anura Wijewardane. "Megha" is the name of one of his grandfather's comic book characters. When he was 1.5 years old, he read

Einstein's theory of relativity The theory of relativity usually encompasses two interrelated physics theories by Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity, proposed and published in 1905 and 1915, respectively. Special relativity applies to all physical phe ...

. Likewise, as he was reading more books and searching the information about the world, he found that

was doing many types of research on

astronomical object An astronomical object, celestial object, stellar object or heavenly body is a naturally occurring physical entity, association, or structure that exists within the observable universe. In astronomy, the terms ''object'' and ''body'' are of ...

s and building spaceships. Then, he was encouraged by his parents who conveyed an imaginary message from

, "We will recruit you if you study and read more books". At the age of 4 years old, he started attending an

Astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

course at South Australian University. After school, he attended

public mini-lectures and got the opportunity to meet NASA scientists and NASA astronauts. Wijewardane was admitted to Westminster College, Australia. He was selected to study at the University of Flinders to study physics with 18- and 19-year-old students in the science and mathematics division sector. After winning the 2017 NASA Space Apps Challenge and participating 2018 NASA Space Apps Challenge and ActInSpace Challenge he gained the

ambassadorship for the

mission of NASA at the age of 9. Again in 2019, he participated NASA Space Apps challenge as the leader of 7 members. They built a platform to save people who are highly exposed to natural disasters using NASA live satellite data. There they introduced an app called "Megha Naada" which can warn people before floods occur.

Working as an ambassador

He is Australia's only junior

ambassador for

's mission OSIRIS-REx. Mission

is to save Earth from the potential hazard

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

, which is at risk of colliding with Earth in the future. He got the opportunity to be in the team mapping and conveying an area to execute the mission of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. As the ambassador for Australia, he is involved in communications for Australia with the mission

. He has the opportunity to access any news about the mission first-hand before it goes public and he shares the updated information with the public. Therefore, he participates in space summits, and visits schools, universities, astronomical clubs and events to share information about the mission OSIRIS-REx.

Abilities and social services

From a very young age, he engaged in many creative activities such as singing songs, creating

handicraft A handicraft is a traditional main sector of craft making and applies to a wide range of creative and design activities that are related to making things with one's hands and skill, including work with textiles, moldable and rigid material ...

s, and drawing with his parents and his grandmother Pushpa Ranathunga. At the age of 3, he started learning to play drums and piano. He can play flute, violin, guitar, and

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

. He is a member of his school choir. He is skilled in sports. He has been conducting many lectures in physics, science, mathematics, and astronomy for university students, scientists, and school students. He has
YouTube channel
with 32.2 thousand subscribers. In 2020, he had been developing apps to learn physics, chemistry, and Mathematics. He created Megha Force to help Sri Lankan students and impart knowledge on astrophysics and physics.

References

External links

NASA's mission OSIRIS-REx
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wijewardane, Megha 2010 births Living people NASA