Karnataka Government School Students’ Satellite Project (KGS3Sat) has been named after late Kannada actor and producer Puneeth Rajkumar.
The project, through which a satellite is to be designed and launched by students from government schools in the state, will be called the ‘Puneeth Rajkumar Student Satellite Project’.
The satellite is slated to be one of the 75 satellites launched to celebrate 75 years of Indian independence. It will be launched by September, this year.
The project was launched on the occasion of National Science Day, on Monday, with an event conducted at the Government Pre-University College in Malleshwaram.
The ground station will be set up in the college premises and 100 students from 20 government schools have been selected to work on the project, based on their performance in several competitions and tests. Karnataka Science and Technology Minister Dr CN Ashwatha Narayana announced that both on-ground and online sessions, as well as hands-on learning and tutorials will be provided to the students in both Kannada and English, starting from April 22.
An MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) for the project was also signed during the event between the Karnataka Science and Technology Promotion Society and the Indian Technological Congress Association.
It was during this programme on Monday that Dr Narayana made the announcement about naming the project after Puneeth.
The 46-year-old actor, fondly known as ‘Power star’, died of a heart attack on October 22, 2021 at Vikram Hospital in Bengaluru. The actor was rushed to the hospital, after he complained of chest pain but was declared unresponsive when he was brought to the emergency department.
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Following his demise, several honours have been posthumously bestowed on the actor, including the Kannada Ratna Award, the state’s highest civilian honour. Further, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) declared that a section of the Ring Road between Nayandahalli junction on Mysuru Road and Vega City Mall on Bannerghatta Road would be designated as ‘Sri Puneeth Rajkumar Road.’
Recently, actor Vijay paid homage to the late Kannada star at Kanteerava Studio in Bengaluru, where the latter was put to rest with full state honours. The Tamil actor also met with Rajkumar’s family members and offered his condolences.