ASTROSTAYS
About Us
What is Astrostay?
In contrast to many Astrotourism programs, the main objective of Astrostays is to utilize astronomy as a tool for community development. The Astrostays are owned and operated by the community, who benefit directly from the revenue gained. With the community at the centre, the model goes beyond traditional astronomy-based offerings. Visitors can expect a holistic program involving cultural heritage and exchange, local art & craft, indigenous folklore, sustainable living, eco-tourism and more.
The Astrostays offer an opportunity to reconnect with nature and learn and experience sustainable modes of living. It is our hope that the Astrostays program also helps to bridge the rural-urban divide by providing a stimulating setting to learn and grow. Finally, gazing at the night sky is sure to change the perspective of visitors who will realize that we are all living under the same sky!
OUR
STORY
Meet The Team
Sonal Asgotraa
- Founder/ Program Manager
Sonal Asgotraa is the Founder of Astrostays. An electrical engineer by profession, Sonal merges Astronomy and community development interventions to create a community-led astro-tourism initiative that transforms village homestays into Cultural and Astronomy Hubs and brings economic benefits of tourism directly to lesser-known, remote areas.
Anubhav Jain
-Operations Manager
Anubhav comes with an experience of working with a community of over 1000 hosts handling close to 3000 homestays. He is experienced in training the hosts on the best practices for hospitality and making the homestays sellable. With such a strong experience, Anubhav believes that there is a huge improvement that can be done in the field of shared economy.
Tsewang Dorjey
-Local Cordinator
Tsewang Dorjey is a village coordinator who works for the maintenance of the solar micro-grids installed during the project, conducts Astronomy sessions and village walks along with other youth of the village. After completing his graduation, he made a choice to come back to his village and work for the development of his village and the community.
Ramasamy Venugopal
-Operations Manager (OAD)
Ramasamy is operations manager at OAD. He comes from a background in space studies at the International Space University and electronics engineering in India. He is passionate about using astronomy as driver of development as well as equity and diversity in the space sector. He is also an active member of the Space Generation Advisory Council.