The Indian space agency, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), will launchthe ‘Pratham’ satellite, designed and made by IIT-Bombay students, along with seven other satellites on Monday (26 September). Of the eight satellites, five are foreign, and the three domestic ones include the weather satellite SCATSAT-1.
The eight satellites will be launched from a single Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket that will blast off from ISRO’s rocket port at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on Monday morning.
The satellite programme at IIT-B was conceptualised in 2008 with the aim of making the institution a centre for space science and technology research. The objective of this programme at IIT-B is to empower students with the skill sets required to develop a satellite.
The five foreign satellites are from Algeria, Canada and the United States. This is the first mission of the PSLV in which it will be launching its payloads into two different orbits. While ISRO has mastered the technology for launching multiple satellites with a single rocket, the challenge this time would be to launch several satellites from one rocket at different orbits.
Once ISRO does this, India will emerge as a foremost nation in the world in terms of advanced rocket technology and the only country in Asia where students of an educational institution designed and made a satellite.
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