ISRO to launch India’s first student made satellite Today

ISRO will launch Microsat-R, an imaging satellite for DRDO, and Kamalsat, a small communication satellite developed by students and Space Kidz India. The satellites will be carried by a new variant of India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket.

“We will be launching 700-kg Microsat-R and Kalamsat with a new variant of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). In order to reduce the weight and increase the mass, an aluminum tank is used for the first time in the fourth stage,” K Sivan, Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) said.

• Kalamsat is a communication satellite with a life span of two months
• The nanosatellite is a 10cm cube weighing 1.2 kg
• The satellite cost was about Rs 12 lakh
• Kalamsat will be the first to use the rocket’s fourth stage as an orbital platform. The fourth stage will be moved to higher circular orbit so as to establish an orbital platform for carrying out experiments
• It is named after former Indian president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam and was built by an Indian high school student team, led by Rifath Sharook, an 18-year-old from the Tamil Nadu town of Pallapatti
• It is the world’s lightest and first ever 3D-printed satellite