Sathyabama University unveils nano Saturday to monitor greenhouse gases

Chennai: ‘Satyabamasat’ the first satellite for Sathyabama University was unveiled on Saturday at the university in the presence C.A. Prabhakar project director, ISRO, to monitor the concentration of greenhouse gases present in the atmosphere.

The satellite is a standard nano satellite. According to Dr Sheela Rani, Vice Chancellor of Sathyabama University, the objective of the Sathyabamasat nano satellite, besides monitoring the concentration of greenhouse gases present in the atmosphere, is to obtain the pollution model for India through data using spectometer payload, interpret the acquired data and represent the concentration of green house gases in PPM (parts per million.

The satellite will be launched by ISRO in June. “It weighs only two kg and our university has established a wonderful ground station. The satellite will remain in orbit for six months. Five different student batches are involved in it from various stages for the past six years. Currently, Fourteen students from different departments are involved in it,” she said. She added that the overall cost involved in making the satellite was Rs 1.5-2 crore.

“This is the first nano satellite to be launched by any university. The students will operate themselves from ground stations, which will receive data from the satellite,” she said.

Vignesh Rajkumar, final year computer science engineering student who is involved in on-board computer, said he was involved in the project from second year.  “Rocket science for me was a mystery but through this project I learned a lot.”

“We didn’t know anything about satellites but this project helped me a lot in practical sense. Isro scientists often visit our campus for the project,” said Lakshmi Prasanna, third year student. “Sathyabama University has made a giant leap on the global warming aspect by making this satellite. The other colleges should follow it up,” said C.A. Prabhakar Project Director, Isro.