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On june 30,Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota launched a rocket. On board were five satellites. The main passenger was a French Earth observation satellite, weighing 700 kg. It was accompanied by four tiny ones: two from Canada and one each from Germany and Singapore. None of these weighed more than 15 kg.
This is a “global endorsement of India’s space capability”, declared Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon after the successful launch of the rocket, Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)-C23. Once in space, the German satellite will monitor sea-traffic, the Canadain satellites will test formation flying of spacecraft and the one from Singapore will establish inter-satellite link.
Small satellites are cheaper and miniature versions of the behemoth that weigh in tonnes. These can be categorised as picosatellites (under 1 kg), nanosatellites (1 kg to 10 kg) or microsatellites (10 kg to 100 kg).
The world’s first small satellite was launched on October 4, 1957, by the Soviet Union. It was called Sputnik1 and weighed 84 kg. Riding high on the Cold War sentiment, the US’s first small satellite—Explorer 1—followed soon in January 1958. In the 55 years since then, the sector is revolutionised through sustained research and is no longer a government-exclusive domain. At least 170 small satellites now orbit the Earth and are engaged in various activities, from tracking wildlife, monitoring sites ravaged by natural disasters and looking for crashed planes like the recent MH370 to conducting space-based experiments, like searching for Earth-like planets outside the solar system. Their utility is limited only by the experimenter’s imagination.
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| YOUNG INNOVATORS
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Narayan Prasad and Sanjay Nekkanti. The duo, who hold a dual masters degree in Space Technology from Lulea University, Sweden, and in Space Techniques and Instrumentation from Universite Paul Sabatier, France, launched Dhruva Space Pvt Ltd in 2012. Nekkanti, 26, is the chief executive at the company, whereas Prasad, 27, is the chief technologist. Prasad also works with the space industry to set up Society of Satellite Professional International (India Chapter). Sanjay is interested in HAM radio groups engaged in exploring communication-related technologies for societal needs. Dhruva hopes to turn profitable in three to five years. |
Shashank Chintalgiri and Shantanu Agarwal. These owners of Firefly Aerospace are the alumni of IIT Kanpur. While Chintalgiri, 26, has done M Sc in (integrated) physics, Agarwal, 28, pursued M Tech in mechanical engineering. At present, Firefly is involved in consultancy projects that do not require heavy initial investments. Chintalgiri and Agarwal hope to develop two unique products in two-three years and establish their business in the next four to five years. |
Across the world, other key companies in the field are UK-based Surrey Sapce Technologies Ltd, US-based NanoSatisfi and Berlin Space Technologies (BST).
BST, a spin-off of Technische Universität Berlin (TUB), is one of Europe’s leading hubs of small satellite development. It has built and launched 10 satellites since 1991. Incidentally, its fourth small satellite, DLR-TUBsat, was the first foreign satellite to be launched by ISRO in May 1999. Tom Segert, head of Business Development of BST, says, “Our satellites can obtain 80 per cent of the performance of larger satellites at a cost which is less than 30 per cent of the bigger bird’s price. We do so by using non-space technologies and keeping the satellite as simple as possible.” Indian companies that leverage on ISRO’s developments, skilled work force and infrastructure, could tap into new markets open for ISRO alone, he adds.
While the mood in India’s small satellite arena does look upbeat, it may be worthwhile to learn from mistakes on the go to ensure higher success rates in future missions. Prasad suggests, “ISRO should initiate constellation missions that involve small teams running on a stringent time line.” Huge teams, where members join and leave often, lowers a team’s accountability and productivity. Points out Nithin Sivadas, a student associated with IITMsat project, “satellites need to be tracked well after launch to get adequate return on the money spent in building them.” In Chintalgiri’s words, “we need to build a strong technical ecosystem, not a strong space ecosystem. The space ecosystem will follow as a natural consequence.”