I N N O VA T I O N C O R N E R

STUDSTAT

ODYSSEY

SPACE
2010!
OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2010 www.ibef.org

Undergraduate students design and build a complex miniature satellite, rally their colleges to pay for it, and once the space agency launches it, they track and monitor it in space.
BY HEMANT KUMAR

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STUDSTAT

I N N O VA T I O N C O R N E R

he time: 9.22am, July 12, 2010. The place: The Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, a spindle-shaped island on the east coast of Andhra Pradesh. All eyes on a steaming rocket, loaded with fuel and ready to go. ... 3...2...1 ... Lift Off! As the giant rocket shot off the launch pad and tore into space, scores of students exploded into ecstatic applause. But that morning they were not cheering Indias Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle as ordinary spectators. Hearts pounding wildly and misty-eyed with elation, they knew they had achieved something extraordinary. A satellite they had designed was on board the soaring rocket. They had a stake in the launch as real as the scientists who were synchronous orbit, 630 km above the Earth. manning the controls. The command centre received the first Called Studsat, for student satellite, the signal from the satellite two hours later, the tiny satellite was designed and built by 45 same day. Studsat is the smallest operationengineering students from 10 colleges in al satellite ISRO has ever launched. Hyderabad and Bengaluru. The satellite was built for less than a quarIt all started in 2007, when four students ter-of-a-million dollars, including the cost of an engineering college attended an interof the support infrastructure to track and national conference on aerospace engineermonitor its movement. Studsat carries a ing in Hyderabad. An idea was born: we complementary metal oxide semiconductor will design a satellite of our own and send (CMOS) camera and four small solar panels it into space. But how? Enter the Indian mounted for power supply. The CMOS is a Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The chip that holds data without external power students approached their colleges with the source. Weighing just under a kilo, the idea, and the colleges went to ISRO. near-cubical, palm-sized satellite has To cut a long story short, ISRO liked a body made of space-qualified, high the idea and asked for a detailed grade aluminum alloy. It functions presentation, with design as a remote sensing satelparametres. A series of meetlite, clicking panchromatic ings later, the concept, design images of earth's surface with and fabrication details were a resolution of 90 metres, thrashed out. By now, there the best achieved by any were 45 students on the team, pico category satellite in the IS A SATELLITE from 10 different colleges of world. The images will help DESIGNED AND Hyderabad and Bengaluru. determine the conditions of Eventually, seven colleges, led the landmass, its vegetation, BUILT BY 45 by the Nitte Meenakshi Instimoisture content or dryness ENGINEERING tute of Technology of Bengain the soil for agriculture and STUDENTS luru, formed a consortium to other farming activity. Studsat manage the ambitious project. is expected to have a lifespan Studsat employed several of six months to a year. frontline technologies and it took the stuThe students have also designed a ground dents about a year and a half to design, station to communicate with the satellite. build and test the satellite and its complex Called NASTRAC, for Nitte Amateur Satelsub-systems. lite Tracking Centre, the station is a technoOn its 16th flight, the powerful PSLV logical marvel in itself. rocket ejected the Studsat into a sunMany of the members associated with the

Weighing just under a kilo, the near-cubical, palm-sized satellite has a body made of space-qualified, high grade aluminum alloy
project have decided to continue with the institute to build the next two satellites that will have two-three additional instruments for astronomical, atmospheric and terrestrial studies, including terrain mapping. Studsats mission is experimental in nature and the main aim is for the students to have a hands-on experience of the design, fabrication and realisation of a space mission at a minimum cost. It was the first, but more are on their way. Students at IIT Kanpur and Mumbai are building two small satellites, while two more are being built at colleges in Chennai. All four satellites are scheduled for launch next year. Space is at a premium on launch rockets, especially when the flights are paid for by foreign customers. But ISRO has done well to accommodate experimental satellites on board. Also, its insistence that colleges shoulder the responsibility of designing and building the satellites has ensured that they have a long-term commitment to promoting space research.

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OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2010

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