SRIHARIKOTA: STUDSAT, the first picosatellite launched in India, was designed, developed and tested by students themselves. The images and data transmitted from space will be received at a ground tracking lab, also set up by the students, at the Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology in Bangalore.
The fist-sized satellite, weighing 650 grams and built at a cost of less than Rs 1 crore, will be basically used for imaging. The students will monitor its movement, said Dr Jharna Majumdar, Coordinator of the project.
Developed by a group of 35 students from seven engineering colleges in Bangalore and Hyderabad, the satellite made its first orbit around earth after it was launched on the PSLV-C15 along with four other satellites, said Dr T K Alex, Director, ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore.
Students received the first round of signals within 20.47 minutes of the launch of PSLV-C15 from Sriharikota, Alex said.
The consortium of colleges that developed STUDSAT was led by Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology. “The students who worked on the making of STUDSAT were from various engineering disciplines as it was a multi-disciplinary project. The ISRO acted as a consultant” said DVA Raghava Murthy, project director of Small Satellite Projects at ISRO.
“The work that students put in to develop satellites is equivalent to three to four years of experience in ISRO,” Murthy added.