STUDSAT (STUDent SATellite), is a CubeSat satellite designed by students. This project was conceptualised and project managed by undergraduate students across

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. STUDSAT is a picosatellite successfully launched on 12 July 2010 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre into a

Sun-synchronous orbit A Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), also called a heliosynchronous orbit, is a nearly polar orbit around a planet, in which the satellite passes over any given point of the planet's surface at the same local mean solar time. More technically, it is ...

. 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. STUDSAT was the first picosatellite launched by India, as well as the smallest satellite launched indigenously by any Indian organisation.

History

The project was initiated by a group of four students from different Engineering colleges of

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

and

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

who attended International Astronautical Congress (IAC), 2007,

Hyderabad, India Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the '' de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern In ...

after meeting Mr. D. V. A. Raghavamurthy (project director, Small Satellites, ISRO Satellite Centre) at the congress. From then the team expanded slowly, ultimately completing the conceptual design. Following the financial budget analysis, the students approached the management of their respective colleges for sponsorship. The colleges, in turn, approached

Indian Space Research Organisation The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman ...

(ISRO) for preliminary review of the project. ISRO scientists approved the preliminary design review after having a set of meetings with detailed presentations by the students. The initial four member team expanded to around 45 students from 10 different colleges. Seven of the colleges formed a consortium to provide the financial sponsorship for the project. The colleges are bound by an internal Memorandum of understanding (MOU), led by Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology, Bangalore as representative college to sign an official Memorandum of understanding with ISRO. The project team is led by Dr. Jharna Majumdar as the project coordinator. STUDSAT is successfully placed in the orbit and received the first signal on 12 July 2010 at 11:07 am IST (??:07 UTC).

Studsat consortium

STUDSAT consortium consists of seven Engineering colleges from

and

bound by a Memorandum of understanding in order to sponsor the project financially. The consortium comprises the following colleges: * Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology, Bangalore, ead College*

Ramaiah Institute of Technology Ramaiah Institute of Technology (RIT), formerly known as M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology (MSRIT), is an autonomous private engineering college located in Bangalore in the Indian state of Karnataka. Established in 1962, the college is affi ...

, Bangalore *

R.V. College of Engineering Rashtreeya Vidyalaya College of Engineering (RVCE or RV College of Engineering, ''Rāshtrīya Vidyālaya Tāntrika Mahāvidyālaya'') is an autonomous private technical co-educational college established in Bangalore, India in 1963. RVCE is reco ...

, Bangalore * B.M.S. Institute of Technology and Management, Bangalore *

Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology (CBIT) is a private engineering college located in Gandipet, near Financial District, Hyderabad, Telangana, India. The college is affiliated to Osmania University and is accredited by the National Boar ...

, Hyderabad *

Institute of Aeronautical Engineering Institute of Aeronautical Engineering (IARE) is a private engineering college in Hyderabad. The college offers post graduate (Masters) and undergraduate (Bachelors) courses in engineering and technology. The college is located near Air Force ...

, Hyderabad * Vignan Institute of Technology and Science, Hyderabad * RNS Institute of Technology, Bangalore * Sri Siddhartha Institute of Technology, Tumkur

Description

The satellite resembles a small rectangular cube, with length dimensions of 10 cm x 10 cm x 13.5 cm, a weight of almost 950 g. The satellite was launched in 625 km

. The satellite will perform the function of a

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring information about Earth ...

satellite and take images of

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

's surface with a

resolution Resolution(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Resolution (debate), the statement which is debated in policy debate * Resolution (law), a written motion adopted by a deliberative body * New Year's resolution, a commitment that an individual mak ...

of 90 meter, the best achieved by any "PICO" category satellite in the world. The satellite consists of the following subsystems: * Communication sub-system. * Power generation and distribution sub-system. * Attitude Determination and Control sub-system. * On Board Command and Data Handling. *

Payload Payload is the object or the entity which is being carried by an aircraft or launch vehicle. Sometimes payload also refers to the carrying capacity of an aircraft or launch vehicle, usually measured in terms of weight. Depending on the nature of ...

(camera). * Mechanical Structure. A

ground station A ground station, Earth station, or Earth terminal is a terrestrial radio station designed for extraplanetary telecommunication with spacecraft (constituting part of the ground segment of the spacecraft system), or reception of radio waves fro ...

has been designed in order to communicate with the satellite. The ground station NASTRAC (Nitte Amateur Satellite Tracking Centre) which is established in Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology (NMIT) was inaugurated by Dr K. Radhakrishnan, the current chairman of

ISRO The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman ...

. All the above subsystems are designed by students indigenously.

Current status

The satellite has completed its mission life. The CDR was conducted in NMIT where several scientists notably Prof.

Udupi Ramachandra Rao Udupi Ramachandra Rao (10 March 1932 – 24 July 2017) was an Indian space scientist and former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation. He was also the Chairman of the Governing Council of the Physical Research Laboratory at Ahm ...

former chairman of

have evaluated the design. The CDR had been approved by

. The satellite was launched by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C15) on 12 July 2010. The team had taken over control of the satellite from the ground station established at Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology (NMIT) in Bangalore. The satellite is no longer in contact with the ground station. Two Line Element Set (TLE) of StudSat-1 are: * 1 36796U 10035B 12227.08525431 .00001146 00000-0 15376-3 0 2565 * 2 36796 098.0573 303.0904 0014305 346.6376 013.4443 14.81257111113029 Source:

AFSPC Space Operations Command (SpOC) is the United States Space Force's space operations, cyber operations, and intelligence field command. It is headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado and serves as the U.S. Space Force's service com ...

STUDSAT-2

The Team STUDSAT is continuing the legacy and building twin nanosatellite for proving the concept of Inter-satellite links (ISL). The design of the Twin-Satellites STUDSAT-2A and STUDSAT-2B, are of dimensions 30 cm x 30 cm x 20 cm and weighing less than 10 kg. The main goal of the STUDSAT 2 project is to develop a low-cost small satellite, capable of operating small scientific or technological payloads where real time connectivity is provided by inter-satellite links.

Achievements

The team has presented a paper titled "Studsat-A Student Pico-Satellite for Imaging" in International Astronautical Congress, 2008 which was held in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The team won Hans Von Muldau Award for the best team project awarded by

International Astronautical Federation The International Astronautical Federation (IAF) is an international space advocacy organization based in Paris, and founded in 1951 as a non-governmental organization to establish a dialogue between scientists around the world and to lay t ...

(IAF) and sponsored by

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt German Society for Aeronautics and Astronautics (DGLR; german: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt - Lilienthal-Oberth e.V.) is a German aerospace society. It was founded in 1912 under the name of ''Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für ...

. The Team has also done a National Record (India) by entering into LIMCA BOOK of RECORDS-2011 Edition for creating the smallest Indian satellite.

References

External links

* Team STUDSAT homepage {{Orbital launches in 2010 Spacecraft launched in 2010 Student satellites CubeSats of India Picosatellites