Sri Shakthi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore launches its own satellite Dr. K. Sivan, Chairman, ISRO Inaugurated Sri Shakthi Satellite Ground Station on 28 Jan 2021 Satellite Launch Scheduled on 28th February 2021 by PSLV C-51.

Dr. K. Sivan, Chairman, ISRO Inaugurated Sri Shakthi Satellite Ground Station on 28 Jan 2021

Sri Shakthi Institute of Engineering and Technology, a coimbatore based Autonomous Engineering institute is all set to launch its own satellite in February 2021.

A Press release by its Chairman Dr.S.Thangavelu states the following :

Sri Shakthi Institute of Engineering and Technology had a long dream to launch a satellite designed by its students and Faculty members. They had set up a Satellite Communication Lab in their college in the year 2010. From then onwards they had this noble and novel idea of launching their own satellite. Those days the hardware fabrication facilities were not available in India. The government regulations were very stringent. Even after the design and development of a satellite to get permission from the government was very difficult. Hence the students / private agencies preferred to launch their satellites through foreign launch vehicles with permission from the government. Normally it will take three to six years to get all the required permissions.

To solve this problem and to encourage the student community , our honorable Prime Minister Mr.Narendra Modi and ISRO made a historical new initiative and formed the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe)in June 2020 at Bangalore. This IN-SPACe has paved the way for collaboration of ISRO, Private Industries and Academia, the visionary triple helix model. This has provided the “Single Window” facility for getting all required permissions for frequency allocations, registration of objects(satellite) before launch and also for launch by ISRO PSLV. Because of this we are able to realize our 10 year dream.

The hard work and the design and developments which were made all these days have yielded the fruit in the form of our “Sri Shakthi Sat”  project worth Rs.2.5 crores. Encouraged by the new government initiative and ISRO we are able to finalize our design and build our own satellite by a team of 12 students led by Mr.Nikhil Riyaz and three faculty members to access the space in the“New Space Era” of “Space 4.0”.

We have also collaborated with the SERBIA based Community for Space Programme Development(CSPD). They have offered us the technology for installing the ground station. With their assistance , Sri Shakthi Institute of Engineering and Technology has installed the ground station and become a member of SatNOGS (Satellite Networked Open Ground Station) project, which is a free software and open source hardware platform aimed to create a satellite ground station network. SatNOGS aims to provide a stack of technologies needed for a distributed network of low earth orbit satellite ground stations. There are 300+ operational ground-stations and 380+ satellites with 810+ transmitters monitored as on November 2019. The global array of ground stations contribute to an effective network for monitoring orbital satellites. With the above network, we can monitor the satellite throughout the day for all 365 days. For the Same, Dr.K.Sivan, Chairman, ISRO and the Secretary, Department of Space, Government of India will inaugurate the ground station in our college on 28 January 2021.

Our Satellite along with another two satellites built by two other institutions will be launched by ISRO from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR Sriharikota on 22 February 2021 through PSLV – C51. Our satellite will be a PICO satellite which will weigh only 460 grams, but it is capable of performing like any other nano satellite weighing upto 10 kgs. This satellite will be orbiting at a distance of 500 – 575 kms from the earth. Hence it will be a LEO satellite. (Low Earth Orbit). This satellite will be used as a technology demonstrator to demonstrate IOT (Internet Of Things)in space and for inter satellite communication. Hence our satellite is capable of performing all IOT (Internet Of Things) activities from space.

Nowadays, for monitoring and controlling any systems we are using either a remote control or a smartphone. For example, to identify any leakage in a water, oil or gas pipelines and also to open and close the valves this satellite can be used from this space. Similarly, for extinguishing forest fire or fire in a multi-storey building this satellite can be used. Also to avoid theft and burglary in banks and other security area, this satellite will be very much useful.

UNISEC India, CSPD, Serbia and Indian Technology Congress Association have congratulated the Sri Shakthi Management for their continued encouragement and support to their students to build their own satellite, indigenously! The Sri Shakthi Students’ Satellite Team Members have participated in Indo-Israel Space Tech Leadership Programmes held in Israel during 2019 (Twice) and International CanSat/Rocketry Competition held in Serbia during Oct 2019. With this initiative, Sri Shakthi Institute of Engineering and Technology marches forward emphatically in its journey towards becoming the top engineering college in the country.