The Kalamsat V-2 is a communication
satellite prototype which is world’s lightest satellite is built entirely by
students and fresh graduates.
Kalamsat is a payload developed by students and Chennai based
Space Kidz India for the first time. The Microsat-R satellite is meant for the
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) purposes.The satellite has been named KalamSat after former Indian
president Abdul Kalam, a pioneer for the country's aeronautical science
ambitions.
The KalamSat
satellite, lighter than a smartphone, the first-ever to be manufactured by 3D
printing, was selected through a competition called “Cubes in Space”, jointly organised by NASA and “I Doodle Learning”. Cubes in Space is “the only global competition, offered at no cost, for students
11-18 years of age to design and propose experiments to launch into space or a
near space environment on a NASA sounding rocket and zero-pressure scientific
balloon”.
The weight of the
probe, composed of 3D printed reinforced carbon fibre polymer, is sixty-four
grams and it is fitted in a three and a half centimetres cube. The tiny probe,
the first time an Indian student’s experiment was flown by NASA, was operated
only for less than twelve minutes to demonstrate the performance of 3D printed
carbon fibre in the micro-gravity environment of outer space and provide
impetus to plan economical space missions in future.
This mission uses a modified
version of the rocket's upper stage that allows it to serve as a long-term
platform in orbit for experiments. A student-built payload called Kalamsat was
incorporated into the upper stage for this launch.
The hosted Kalamsat v2 amateur
communications payload was developed by Space Kidz. The payload is battery powered
and was active for a few orbits to perform data transmission. It uses a
modified new kind of electronic systems and buses which makes use of
commercially off the shelf components to make the space exploration easier and
economical. It was used for testing the performances of these newly modified
systems like OBC, eps, communication, and structure. Power is provided by the
PS4 stage's lithium ion batteries, which can operate for about 15 hours.The
Kalamsat v2 payload itself was powered by its own solar cells.
The Kalamsat is the
first to use the rocket`s fourth stage as an orbital platform. The fourth stage
would be moved to higher circular orbit so as to establish an orbital platform
for carrying out experiments, ISRO had said.
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