By Venkatachari Jagannathan
Chennai, Jan 22 (IANS) Chennai-based Space Kidz India plans to build a satellite - Vikramsat - to do some biological experiment in space, said a top official.
She also said her dream of putting a satellite built by students will become a reality on January 24 night when an Indian rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) will carry a small communication satellite Kalamsat.
"We are planning to build a satellite called Vikramsat to do some biological experiment in the space. By this we hope to contribute in a small way to India's ambitious human space mission Gaganyaan," Srimathy Kesan, Founder CEO of Space Kidz India, told IANS.
Speaking about the nano-satellite Kalamsat, she said it was a 10cm cube, 1.2 kg communication satellite with a life span of two months. The satellite cost was about Rs.12 lakh.
According to her, Kalamsat will be the first satellite of Space Kidz India to be in a proper orbit as its earlier satellites were suborbital ones.
Space Kidz India is working towards promoting art, science and culture for students of India, create an international platform for them.
India will open its 2019 space programme account on January 24 night by launching imaging satellite Microsat-R for the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) and Kalamsat.
The satellites will be carried by a new variant of India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket.
"We will be launching 700-kg Microsat-R and Kalamsat with a new variant of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). In order to reduce the weight and increase the mass, an aluminum tank is used for the first time in the fourth stage," K. Sivan, Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), told IANS.
The PSLV is a four-stage engine expendable rocket with alternating solid and liquid fuel.
In its normal configuration, the rocket will have six strap-on motors hugging the rocket's first stage.
However, the PSLV that would fly on January 24 with Microsat R and Kalamsat will be a two strap-on motors configuration and is designated as PSLV-DL.
The Indian space agency is planning to have the launch at about 11.40 p.m. on January 24.
The rocket PSLV-C44 is the first mission of PSLV-DL and is a new PSLV variant.
Kalamsat will be the first to use the rocket's fourth stage as an orbital platform. The fourth stage will be moved to higher circular orbit so as to establish an orbital platform for carrying out experiments.
Space Kidz India's Kesan is a happy woman as Kalamsat will be entering the history books on that account.
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