Megha Wijewardane

Megha Mahima Wijewardane is a Sri Lankan-Australian Space and Aviation activist, and the youngest ambassador for NASA's OSIRIS-Rex mission representing Australia since 2018. Megha had a passion for Physics 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. There he won the Northrop Grumman Prize by competing with university students and aerospace engineers. 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 and NASA’s OSIRIS-REx 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, he assisted in a project to find a solution to identify ships - primarily fishing vessels - even though they have turned off their location transponders.

Due to these events, he caught the attention of NASA and received an opportunity to go for a NASA ambassadorship. NASA, after checking his health conditions and social relations, offered him the position of NASA ambassador for the OSIRIS-REx 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. He is an Australian of Sri Lankan origin. He is the son of creative designer Charith Wijewardane and the CEO of Chakra FM Doshanthri Ranatunge. His grandfather is a Sri Lanka n newspaper comic 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. Likewise, as he was reading more books and searching the information about the world, he found that NASA was doing many types of research on astronomical objects and building spaceships. Then he was encouraged by his parents who conveyed an imaginary message from NASA, "We will recruit you if you study and read more books". At the age of 4 years old, he started attending an Astronomy course at South Australian University. After school, he attended NASA 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 NASA ambassadorship for the OSIRIS-REx 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 an innovative 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 NASA ambassador for NASA's mission OSIRIS-REx. Mission OSIRIS-REx is to save Earth from the potential hazard asteroid, Bennu, 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 OSIRIS-REx. 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 handicrafts, 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. 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 a 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.