India: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully placed Microsat-R and Kalamsat-V2 satellites into their orbits using its Polar Satellite Launching Vehicle-C44 (PSLV-C44).
Microsat-R, a 740-kg satellite will be used to take high-resolution photographs of the earth. This satellite will be used by the Indian Defence research team. While Kalamsat- V2 is the world’s lightest satellite that was built by Indian students. This satellite weighs just 1.2Kgs.
The 1.2Kg Kalamsat v2 was prepared in 6 days, and was under development since the last 6 years. The 20+ team of students at Space Kidz India were headed by Srimathy Kesan.
About 13 minutes 26 seconds after the PSLV lift-off, Microsat-R was successfully injected into intended orbit of 274 km. After injection, two solar arrays of the satellite were deployed automatically and ISRO Telemetry Tracking & Command Network (ISTRAC) at Bengaluru assumed control of the satellite.
Subsequently, the fourth stage (PS4) of the vehicle was moved to a higher circular orbit of 453 km after two restarts of the stage, to establish an orbital platform for carrying out experiments. Kalamsat-V2, a student payload, first to use PS4 as an orbital platform, was taken to its designated orbit about 1 hour and 40 minutes after lift-off.
This flight marked the first mission of PSLV-DL, a new variant of PSLV with two strap-on motors.
ISRO Chairman Dr. K Sivan congratulated Kalamsat-V2 team for their perfection in making satellites. “We must strive for science-oriented India. ISRO is open to all students across India. We want students to bring their satellites to us and we will launch them. Young scientists will shape the future of India,” Dr Sivan said.
PM Narendra Modi also congratulated the students for their extraordinary work. He twitted,” Heartiest congratulations to our space scientists for yet another successful launch of PSLV. This launch has put in orbit Kalamsat, built by India’s talented students. With this launch, India also becomes the first country to use the fourth stage of a space rocket as an orbital platform for microgravity experiments.”
Kalamsat v2 is a 10cm cube satellite weighing just 1,200 grams. This satellite launched from Satish Dhawan space centre, Sriharikota on 24th January 2019 at 23:39 hrs IST. Kalamsat v2 uses modified new kind of electronic systems and buses which makes use of commercially off-the-shelf components to make the space exploration easier and economical.
