Pratham (satellite)

Last updated
Pratham
Pratham FM.jpg
Pratham Final Flight Model
Mission typeIonospheric
Technology
Operator IIT Bombay
COSPAR ID 2016-059A
SATCAT no. 41783 OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Website Pratham, IIT Bombay Student Satellite Initiative
Mission duration4 months
Spacecraft properties
ManufacturerStudent Satellite Lab, IIT Bombay
Launch mass10.15 kilograms (22.4 lb)
Start of mission
Launch dateSeptember 26, 2016
Rocket PSLV
Launch site Satish Dhawan, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh
Contractor ISRO
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Low Earth
 

Pratham is an Indian ionospheric research satellite which will be operated by the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay as part of the Student Satellite Initiative. Its primary mission is to count electrons in the Earth's ionosphere. [1]

Contents

The Pratham spacecraft is a cube with 30-centimetre (12 in) sides and a mass of around 10.15 kilograms (22.4 lb). [2] It was conceptualized by a team of students under the supervision of Professor K. Sudhakar. [3] Pratham was successfully launched on 26 September 2016 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh along with 7 other satellites on PSLV C-35.

Mission

'Pratham' has a Four-fold Mission [1] Statement:

  1. Enabling students and faculty to gain knowledge and experience in the field of Satellite and Space Technology.
  2. Empowering the Satellite Team with the skills to develop the Satellite through various phases of Design, Analysis, Fabrication and Testing until the Flight Model is made.
  3. Launching the satellite into orbit and measuring Total Electron Count of the Ionosphere.
  4. Involving students from other universities in our Satellite mission by building ground stations in their universities.

See also

Related Research Articles

IIT Kanpur Public engineering institution

Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur is a public technical and research university located in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. It was declared to be an Institute of National Importance by the Government of India under the Institutes of Technology Act.

IIT Bombay Public engineering institution located in Powai, Mumbai

Indian Institute of Technology Bombay is a public technical and research university located in Powai, Mumbai, India.

CASSIOPE

Cascade, Smallsat and Ionospheric Polar Explorer (CASSIOPE), is a Canadian Space Agency (CSA) multi-mission satellite operated by the University of Calgary. The mission development and operations from launch to February 2018 was funded through CSA and the Technology Partnerships Canada program. In February, 2018 CASSIOPE became part of the European Space Agency's Swarm constellation through the Third Party Mission Program, known as Swarm Echo, or Swarm-E. It was launched September 29, 2013, on the first flight of the SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 launch vehicle. CASSIOPE is the first Canadian hybrid satellite to carry a dual mission in the fields of telecommunications and scientific research. The main objectives are to gather information to better understand the science of space weather, while verifying high-speed communications concepts through the use of advanced space technologies.

Indian Space Research Organisation Indias national space agency

The Indian Space Research Organisation or is the national space agency of the Republic of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under Department of Space (DoS) which is directly overseen by the prime minister of India while chairman of ISRO acts as executive of DoS as well. ISRO is the primary agency in India to perform tasks related to space based applications, space exploration and development of related technologies. It is one of six government space agencies in the world which possess full launch capabilities, deploy cryogenic engines, launch extraterrestrial missions and operate large fleets of artificial satellites.

Small satellite Satellites of low mass and size, usually under 500 kg

A small satellite, miniaturized satellite, or smallsat is a satellite of low mass and size, usually under 500 kg (1,100 lb). While all such satellites can be referred to as "small", different classifications are used to categorize them based on mass. Satellites can be built small to reduce the large economic cost of launch vehicles and the costs associated with construction. Miniature satellites, especially in large numbers, may be more useful than fewer, larger ones for some purposes – for example, gathering of scientific data and radio relay. Technical challenges in the construction of small satellites may include the lack of sufficient power storage or of room for a propulsion system.

The National Space Organization is the national civilian space agency of Taiwan, part of the National Applied Research Laboratories under the auspices of the Ministry of Science and Technology. NSPO is involved in the development of space technologies and related research.

FalconSAT Program within the United States Air Force Academy for building small satellites

FalconSAT is the United States Air Force Academy's (USAFA) small satellite engineering program. Satellites are designed, built, tested, and operated by Academy cadets. The project is administered by the USAFA Space Systems Research Center under the direction of the Department of Astronautics. Most of the cadets who work on the project are pursuing a bachelor of science degree in astronautical engineering, although students from other disciplines join the project.

Mylswamy Annadurai

Mylswamy Annadurai, popularly known as Moon Man of India, is an Indian scientist working as vice president for Tamil Nadu State Council for Science and Technology (TNSCST), Chairman, Board of Governors, National Design and Research Forum(NDRF. He was born on 2 July 1958, in a village called Kothavadi near Pollachi in Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu state of India). Prior to taking this assignment he was with Indian Space Research Organisation and served as director, ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC), Bangalore. During his 36 years of service in ISRO, he had some of the major contributions, including two of the major missions of ISRO, namely Chandrayaan-1 and Mangalyaan. Annadurai has been listed among 100 Global thinkers of 2014 and topped the innovators list. His works are mentioned in textbooks of Tamil Nadu Board of Secondary Education

Techfest

Techfest is the annual science and technology festival of Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. It also refers to the independent body of students who organize this event along with many other social initiatives and outreach programs around the year. Techfest is known for hosting a variety of events that include competitions, exhibitions, lectures as well as workshops.

The GPS-aided GEO augmented navigation (GAGAN) is an implementation of a regional satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) by the Government of India. It is a system to improve the accuracy of a GNSS receiver by providing reference signals. The AAI's efforts towards implementation of operational SBAS can be viewed as the first step towards introduction of modern Communication, navigation and surveillance/Air Traffic Management system over Indian airspace.

G. Madhavan Nair

G. Madhavan Nair is an Indian space scientist and a former Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation, and Secretary to the Department of Space, Government of India. He has also been the Chairman of the Space Commission and Chairman of the Governing Body of the Antrix Corporation, Bangalore. He was Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Technology Patna until he stepped down due to his involvement in a controversial deal relating to sale of radio spectrum bandwidth involving Antrix. He was subsequently barred from holding any government positions.

Indian Institutes of Technology Autonomous Indian public engineering institute group

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are the premier autonomous public technical and research universities located across India. They are governed by the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961, which has declared them as Institutes of National Importance and lays down their powers, duties, and framework for governance. The Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 lists twenty-three institutes. Each IIT is autonomous, linked to the others through a common council, which oversees their administration. The Minister of Education is the ex officio Chairperson of the IIT Council. As of 2020, the total number of seats for undergraduate programs in all IITs is 16,053. The only major requirement to admit to these institutions at undergraduate and postgraduate level is to pass the JEE Advanced and GATE respectively.

STUDSAT, is a CubeSat satellite designed by students. This project was conceptualised and project managed by undergraduate students across India. STUDSAT is a picosatellite successfully launched on 12 July 2010 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre into a Sun-synchronous orbit. The mission's objective was for students to have a hands-on experience with the design, fabrication and realisation of a space mission at a minimum cost. Experimental in nature, the mission life was stated to be six months.

Jugnu, is an Indian technology demonstration and remote sensing CubeSat satellite which was operated by the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. Built under the guidance of Dr. N. S. Vyas, it is a nanosatellite which will be used to provide data for agriculture and disaster monitoring. It is a 3-kilogram (6.6 lb) spacecraft, which measures 34 centimetres (13 in) in length by 10 centimetres (3.9 in) in height and width. Its development programme cost around 25 million rupee. It has a design life of one year.

Alsat-1B is an Algerian satellite operated by the Agence Spatiale Algerienne for agricultural and disaster monitoring. The contract for the mission was signed in July 2014. The satellite is based on the SSTL-100 bus. The satellite weighs 103 kilograms (227 lb) and carries an earth imaging payload with 12-metre (39 ft) panchromatic imager and 24-metre (79 ft) multispectral cameras.

RESPOND is a sponsored research program of Indian Space Research Organization whose main objective is to establish strong links with Universities/Institutions in the country to carry out quality research and developmental projects which are of relevance to space and derive useful outputs of such R&D to support ISRO programmes. The programme provides opportunity to the non-ISRO scientists and engineers, who are working with the recognized institute, to contribute to the Indian space programme. The contribution is mostly in areas of design and development of orbiting satellites for scientific research and space applications, sounding rockets and satellite launch vehicles. Non-academic R & D institutions can also participate in this programme.

Explorer 27

Explorer 27 was a satellite, launched in 1965, designed to conduct scientific research in the ionosphere. It was powered by 4 solar panels. One goal of the mission was to study in detail the shape of the Earth by way of investigating variations in its gravitational field. It was the third and last of the Beacons in the Explorers program. The satellite was shut off in 1973 so that its transmission band could be used by higher-priority spacecraft.

Simulation-to-Flight 1

Simulation-to-Flight 1 (STF-1) is a microsatellite built by the Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation Facility (IV&V) in Fairmont, West Virginia with the collaboration of the West Virginia Space Grants Consortium and West Virginia University.

FR-1 (satellite) French scientific satellite; the second French satellite

FR-1 was the second French satellite. Planned as the first French satellite, it was launched on 6 December 1965—ten days after the actual first French satellite, Astérix—by an American Scout X-4 rocket from the Western Range at Vandenberg Air Force Base. The scientific satellite studied the composition and structure of the ionosphere, plasmasphere, and magnetosphere by measuring the propagation of very low frequency (VLF) waves and the electron density of plasma in those portions of the Earth's atmosphere. FR-1's VLF receiver operated until 26 August 1968. FR-1 remains in orbit as of November 2020.

References

  1. 1 2 "Mission". Pratham. IIT Bombay Student Satellite Initiative. Archived from the original on 17 July 2009. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
  2. Kartha, Riya (20 August 2008). "At IIT-Bombay, a satellite built by students takes shape". Express India. Archived from the original on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
  3. "Team". Pratham. IIT Bombay Student Satellite Initiative. Archived from the original on 19 December 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2010.