ISRO Launches World’s Lightest Satellite Designed by Indian Students

This is truly a proud moment – the world’s lightest satellite, which is lighter than a chair, has been designed and developed by Indian students! On Thursday night, this satellite was placed in orbit by a rocket launched by the ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization).

Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi congratulated the scientists through a tweet that said, “Heartiest congratulations to our space scientists for yet another successful launch of PSLV. This launch has put in orbit Kalamsat, built by India’s talented students.”

Kalamsat-V2, the Lightest Satellite In The World

This satellite, named Kalamsat-V2 is the lightest satellite in the world and weighs only 1.26 kg. Isn’t that astonishing! But wait there’s more – it took only 6 days to build and cost about Rs. 12 lakh. ISRO very gracefully has not charged a single buck for the task.

Although it took only 6 days to build, the technology that was used to build the satellite was constructed and developed over a time period of 6 years. A group of 20-something students, guided by Srimathy Kesan, a 45-year-old professional provided this information. They all worked on this together at Space Kidz India.

The Kalamsat -V2 is first satellite designed and built by an Indian private entity and Space Kidz India to be launched by ISRO. It was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

Prior to this, another model that weighed only 64 grams, had been sent to space but it failed to reach orbit. This model was named ‘gulab jamun’ because of its small size. This model was launched by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) in 2017.

46th Launch of PSLV

Thursday was scheduled mainly for a launch of a satellite from the space agency’s workhorse, Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), which is 44.4-metre-long and weighs 260 tonnes. This was a 740-kg satellite called Microsat-R which will be used to take high-resolution photos of the Earth for defence research.

This was the 46th launch of PSLV and it took both satellites into orbit. ISRO plans to create the best from waste by converting the last stage of the rocket, which actually turns into space debris, into an experimental platform. Due to this conversion, the debris will remain functional and thus available for help in research.

As per reports, ISRO chairman Kailasavadivoo Sivan said, “In this mission, the fourth stage… will be moved to higher circular orbit so as to establish an orbital platform for carrying out experiments.”