India has already established itself as a Space Superpower and has developed expertise in launching satellites. In fact, launching satellites is also helping the government in earning revenue as it is charging foreign countries for launching their satellites.
However, even if you are not a space scientist, you can still launch a mini-satellite, if not a satellite! Yes, you read that right!
Suraj Kumar Jana (22) has been doing it for the last two years. A computer engineer from Bengaluru and founder of Opencube Labs, Suraj has been running a project named CanSat Development Programme. He uses empty cans of soda, coke, red bull and others for this purpose. CanSat comprises of sounding rocket balloon payload which is made of open hardware such as Arduino and RaspberryPi. All the constituents of a satellite are put inside a can of 350ml.
The Air Force base at Yelahanka is used for launching the mini-satellite while parachute is used for its controlled landing and all the data is sent to the ground station. Suraj, who has completed his engineering from BMS Institute of Technology, said,
“The data collected by these mini-satellites include temperature and pollution levels, quality of air and water, ultra-violet penetration and traffic congestion levels in the city. These data can help in research purposes and our civic bodies can even use them to implement better policies.”
The project was started in 2014 and its purpose was to provide students with an understanding of small-level space missions carried out under many workshops all across the city.
Suraj further added,
“Receiving a real-time experience of small scale space missions isn’t that reasonable and goes beyond affordability of Indian, middleclass students. Through our workshops, we provide students first-hand knowledge on making, operating and launching of satellites.”
Wow, that’s exciting, isn’t it?