Bangalore students do India proud by building feather-light satellite StudSat even before getting their degrees.
They are still in their teens, but have already joined the elite group of space scientists after their pico-satellite StudSat was successfully launched on board India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C-15 (PSLV-C-15) on Monday from the Sriharikota spaceport, 80km north of Chennai.
StudSat was designed and developed by 40 undergraduate students from seven engineering colleges from Bangalore and Hyderabad, and will send 30 minutes of data every day.
Its images will be used for vegetation study and remote sensing applications during its mission life of six months to two years.
StudSat, an acronym for student satellite, has sent Indian education into higher orbit.
The seven colleges that were involved in the StudSat project were MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology (MSRIT), RV College of Engineering (RVCE), BMS Institute of Technology (BMSIT), Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology (NMIT) (all in Bangalore), Institute of Aeronautical Engineering, Vignan Institute of Technology and Science, and Chaitanya Bharati Institute of Technology (all in Hyderabad).
The youngsters, most of who were at Sriharikota to witness the launch on Monday, admitted that they went through pre-launch jitters, as it was their maiden attempt in the sphere of satellite and space research.
The young team, however, celebrated its success and congratulated each other after the successful launch. “Before the launch we were nervous. Now we are excited. Our dream of building and launching a satellite has come true,” the team leader of the StudSat project, Chetan Angadi, told DNA over phone from Sriharikota.
“We are planning to have a big bash in Bangalore soon,” said another team member Chetan Dixit.
The project has been continuously guided by several Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientists, including professor UR Rao, former chairman of ISRO.
“It’s a proud moment for us. Their hard work has paid off,” said project guide Professor Jharna Majumdar, a former scientist with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
It’s the first pico-satellite of India.
Even, ISRO is yet to launch its pico-satellite. One of the major characteristics of any pico-satellite is the weight which is usually less than 1 kg.
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