The clock will be watched anxiously by 176 students from the College of Engineering Pune (CoEP), on June 20 when the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch its nano-satellite, Swayam.
Claimed by college authorities to be the first pico satellite developed by students in the country, the students of CoEP have been working on Swayam since 2008 from a corpus fund of Rs. 50 lakh. The satellite weighs less than 1 kilo.
The satellite, whose objective is to establish end-to-end communication even in remote corners of the earth, is being launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. ISRO will also be launching another nano satellite, Satyabamasat, developed by students from the Sathyabama University in Chennai.
“The satellite uses the magnetic field of the earth to stabilise. This technology is unique and will be used for the first time in the country,” said B.B. Ahuja, Director, CoEP.
Designing and building a nano-satellite posed a formidable challenge for the team. The satellite has solar panels on all its six faces. These panels store charge in the lithium-ion battery, thus charging all systems within the satellite.
“The main problem was of devising sub-systems which consumed less than 2W and how to stabilise the satellite with equipment requiring less power,” said M.Y. Khaladkar, faculty in-charge of the Student Satellite Group, CoEP.
The CoEP team has also come up with a noise-cancellation software.
Communication with the satellite would take place via Morse code. It would revolve around the earth six times a day. The satellite was ready in May 2015 but the launch date has been delayed.
The CoEP team, which is in Sriharikota to witness the launch, is keeping its fingers crossed in eager anticipation over the next 48 hours. Also being launched on this mission is ISRO’s CartoSat-2C. The launch is scheduled for 9 a.m. on June 20.
The objective of the satellite is to establish end-to-end communication even in remote corners of the earth
