The Lunar Surface Exploration Project

Arav Annamalai

Budding astronomer, space enthusiast & future space scientist from Malaysia

Space enthusiast Arav

My name is Arav, I’m 7 years old from Malaysia and I am from the Indian Malaysian community, which has taught me a lot of things. Unfortunately, in my country it seems difficult to find out about astronomy and space and to have support in sharing the things I have discovered.  So, I have enjoyed learning about space alone and doing space photography with my dad. I am constantly learning about space with him and even how to commercialise products. I want to share my experience about the real surface of the Moon with other kids my age.
​​School children my age are regularly exposed to smartphones and iPads and daily playing of video games, which is not good for us over a long period of time and will affect our eye sight, our minds and behaviour.  ​

My Dad and I have discovered a way to combine the smartphone iPad with ultraviolet/infrared with space observation telescopy to make space discoveries, with assistance of the DIGI phone network and iCloud. My Dad and I devised this lens innovation. We were always fascinated by the surface of the Moon and planet Mars.  

For our lens innovation and lunar space discoveries, we won a Gold Award at the SCINEX 2020 Science Innovation Exhibition Malaysia, hosted by the Universiti Teknologi MARA and Negeri Sembilan Education Department, just around the time when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. It was encouraging to be congratulated by the NASA research department for our SCINEX Gold Award and for the advice they gave me and my Dad. They told me not to give up on my dreams to do space science or engineering and to focus on my schoolwork learning lots of maths and science so that one day I can be part of the international community of scientists/engineers. We have participated in various NASA programs as well.

We also won an International Special Award presented by the World Invention Intellectual Property Association (WIIPA), and a Gold Award and Special Award presented by the Toronto International Society of Innovation & Advanced skills (TISIAS) Canada

​The International Programme Committee (IPC) also selected our presentation - Lunar Surface, To Support Growth & Development Of A Sustainable Society On The Moon - for their repository at the Moon Village Association's online Workshop & Symposium in cooperation with the Cyprus Space Exploration Organisation. 
 
My Mom is also a part of our team. The role of women is important in space discovery and space planetary surface observation technologies, and women like my mom and their abilities don’t get recognised enough. The UNOOSA Space4women mentors are always trying to get more kids my age and women to participate in space programs globally through their network. 

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​Take a look at all of the Moon photographs captured and displayed here. These were all as a result of our invention, the space lens innovation smartphone iPad ultraviolet infrared incorporated into telescopy, which we recently filed for a patent in Malaysia. It was difficult to know how to commercialise our space lens innovation product as we couldn’t find anyone to give us advice in Malaysia, so we had to learn by ourselves and by getting bits and pieces of advice from international space agencies. 
 
We have thousands of videos and photographs that we've captured, and these could potentially help to prepare other kids my age for space and lunar exploration.

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The team at InnovaSpace would like to congratulate Arav for some amazing photos of the Moon & planets, and for all his study and hard work. Congratulations must also go to Arav's Mom and Dad for all the encouragement and support they clearly give him, which is so invaluable. Keep studying Arav and keep looking up to the stars - perhaps one day you may find your place among them on the Moon or Mars! 

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