4 TN engineering students develop world’s lightest satellite
Four engineering students from Tamil Nadu have developed the world’s lightest satellite, weighing only 33.39 grams. The satellite, Jaihind-1S, was made as part of a competition conducted by Cubes in SpaceTM, a programme by idoodledu inc, which was supported by the United States’ space agency, NASA.
By : migrator
Update: 2018-06-20 18:29 GMT
Chennai
The micro satellite team received technical report and authentication certificate from the Department of Aerospace Engineering of the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) issued technical report and authentication certificate on Wednesday.
Explaining the concept behind the effort, the team of students from first-year aerospace engineering department of Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science, headed by Hari Krishnan K J, claimed that satellite could be used to check the working of nylon in microgravity or space.
Hari Krishnan told DT Next that the satellite was made by 3D printed PLA nylon, which is more environmental friendly compared to other plastics.
“The satellite can also give details about the temperature, pressure, altitude, UV ray intensity, acceleration in x, y and z direction, pitch, yaw, rolling movement of the rocket or balloon (depending on which it is launched),” Krishnan added.
The satellite has the capability to find humidity and lapse rate at different altitudes, which would help scientists to study various weather conditions.
The sensors fitted in the satellite would be connected to an on-board microcontroller that has been programmed in such a way that it retrieves data from the modules,
he said.
“The data will be stored in micro SD card,” the student said, adding, “We can find whether nylon could be used in space technology.” Faculty advisor G Dinesh Kumar
who led the team said micro satellite was sent to IIT-M to get the authentication of weight and technical specification.
In his official letter, IIT-M Aerospace Engineering professor Satynarayanan R Chakravarthy said the weight of the satellite was found to be 33.39 grams. Earlier, the smallest 3D satellite was one developed by 18-year old Tamil Nadu student last year, which weighed only 64 grams.
In May 2018, a 17-year old Villet Oviya, hailing from Trichy, also developed a mini satellite weighing 500 grams.
Cubes in SpaceTM, is a global competition for students between the age of 11 and 18 years to design and propose experiments to launch into space or a near space environment on a NASA sounding rocket and zero-pressure scientific balloon.
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