THANJAVUR: A second year Mechatronics Engineering student of SASTRA Deemed to be University has designed the world’s lightest FEMTO satellite. Riyasdeen (18), a native of Thanjavur, won the Cubes in Space global design competition for space launch in NASA rocket and scientific balloon.
About 1,000 students from 73 countries took part. Riyasdeen designed 37 mm sized FEMTO satellites VISION SAT v1 and v2 with a payload of 30 mm weighing just 33 gms. He used polyetherimide thermoplastic resins and 3D printing technology.
Mentored by INRO Labs, Chennai, his satellites are designed to record around 17 parameters with 11 sensors and VISION SAT v1 shall be part of the SR-7 NASA Rocket Mission expected to be launched from the Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, USA, in June 2021. SAT v2 shall be part of the NASA Balloon Mission RB-6 scheduled for launch in August 2021.
The SASTRA-TBI in 3D Printing and Internet of Things (IoT) will offer an incubation grant of Rs 5 lakh to Riyasdeen to further pursue his ambition of establishing a successful start-up, said SASTRA Vice-Chancellor S Vaidhyasubramaniam.
Riyasdeen developed interest in robotics right from his school days and got training in robotics from a robotics learning platform. He has won in regional and national rounds of international contests. “I started working on the satellites from the end of 2018”, Riyasdeen told Express, adding these satellites were scheduled to be launched in the mid 2020 itself but got postponed due to Covid pandemic. With the assistance announced by the SASTRA to set up a start up at the University’s incubation centre, Riyasdeen future plans included setting up a startup and also to pursue his M.S. in related areas.
Achiever gets accolades from political leaders
Chennai: Leaders of various political parties, including DMK president MK Stalin, on Sunday congratulated Riyasdeen for designing the satellite. Stalin said it would be a proud achievement for India and Tamil Nadu, when NASA launches the satellite in 2021. TMC(M) president GK Vasan and AMMK leader TTV Dhinakaran also congratulated the student