When the PSLV-C38 rocket lifts off from the Satish Dhawan space port on Friday, it will carry with it the dreams and hopes of over 200 students of the Noorul Islam University at Thuckalay in Kanyakumari district. The students contributed to the design and development of a nano-satellite sharing space with the 30 others on board.
They were part of the team involved in the project to build NIUSAT, a satellite for disaster management and crop monitoring. The project which began in 2007 was supported by ISRO and is estimated to have cost ₹37 cr. Weighing 15 kg, NIUSAT was fabricated at a satellite laboratory set up on the campus. The university has also established a dedicated mission control centre for telemetry and telecommand operations and payload data reception. The satellite is equipped with an RGB camera for multispectral imagery with a resolution of 25 m from an altitude of 500 km.
‘Conceived in 2004’
“Over the 10-year period, the 200 students from the Aerospace, Aeronautics, Mechanical and Electronics and Communication engineering streams were part of the project during their course. Many of them spent time in the laboratory even during the vacation”, recalls Faizal Khan, Pro-Chancellor of the university. “The project was the brainchild of our Chancellor A.P. Majeed Khan and was conceived in the wake of the tsunami in 2004.”
As many as 16 scientists from ISRO and two industry partners provided critical support for the team.
