The nano satellite SRMSAT-1, indigenously designed and built by students of the SRM Institute of Science and Technology in collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), has completed 40,000 orbits since it’s launch October 12, 2011 from Sriharikota.
Speaking about the significant milestone, Dr S R S Prabaharan, Joint Director (Research), SRMIST, said the satellite has outlived its original life span of two years and continues to send data to the ground control centre in the campus at Kattankulathur in Kancheepuram district.
The satellite will complete nine years in space on October 11 this year. Conceived by SRMIST President Dr P Satyanarayanan, the satellite was tasked to monitor and estimate carbon dioxide and water vapor in tropical atmosphere globally, a SRMIST release on Saturday said. “We are proud of our students who built and launched the satellite with the help of ISRO,” Prof Prabaharan said To demonstrate rendezvous and docking using an in-house developed docking port involving two small satellites.The students of Team SRMSAT have developed a novel design for a docking port which is unique in terms of its mechanism and operation. The two satellites will also accommodate scientific payloads that will operate in orbit after the demonstration in order to obtain useful data for the scientific community. (UNI)
SRMSAT-1 completes 40,000 orbits, outlives life span
