India became the second nation in the World after it launched an Indo-French tropical weather satellite and three other smaller satellites into orbit from the spaceport at Sriharikota. The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) scored past the half-century mark by launching the Megha-Tropiques and other satellites. As the rocket zoomed towards the sky scientists, media persons and residents in nearby area cheered and clapped in joy.
The whole process got completed in 25 minutes from blast off. 22 minutes after its blast, it first spewed out Megha-Tropiques and followed it up with SRMSAT, VesselSat and Jugnu. SRM group chancellor T R Pachamuthu and resident P Sathyanarayanan said the university located at the outskirts of Chennai became the first private university in India to launch a nano satellite. Describing it as a momentous occasion, the satellite weighing 10.4 kg was designed and developed by about 50 students from various departments over two years.
”Initially, ISRO will monitor the satellite from its ground station at Bangalore. After a week, SRM University will monitor it from the ground station set up at the campus”, said Narayana Rao, Director (Research), SRM University. The university also has plans to set up a Centre for Space Technology at its campus in Kattankulathur, near Chennai. It is in talks with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in this regard.
The French space agency, Centre National D’etudes Spatiales (CNES), has built three instruments of Megha-Tropiques: SAPHIR, SCARAB and GPS-ROS. The fourth, MADRAS, is a joint effort of ISRO and CNES.
The whole process got completed in 25 minutes from blast off. 22 minutes after its blast, it first spewed out Megha-Tropiques and followed it up with SRMSAT, VesselSat and Jugnu. SRM group chancellor T R Pachamuthu and resident P Sathyanarayanan said the university located at the outskirts of Chennai became the first private university in India to launch a nano satellite. Describing it as a momentous occasion, the satellite weighing 10.4 kg was designed and developed by about 50 students from various departments over two years.
”Initially, ISRO will monitor the satellite from its ground station at Bangalore. After a week, SRM University will monitor it from the ground station set up at the campus”, said Narayana Rao, Director (Research), SRM University. The university also has plans to set up a Centre for Space Technology at its campus in Kattankulathur, near Chennai. It is in talks with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in this regard.
The French space agency, Centre National D’etudes Spatiales (CNES), has built three instruments of Megha-Tropiques: SAPHIR, SCARAB and GPS-ROS. The fourth, MADRAS, is a joint effort of ISRO and CNES.
Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in its twentieth flight (PSLV-C18) will launch Megha-Tropiques satellite along with three auxiliary payloads with a total payload mass of 1047 kg from the first launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC SHAR).
PSLV-C18 is the seventh flight of PSLV in ‘core-alone’ configuration i.e, without solid strap-on motors.
