When IIT-Kanpur put a Jugnu in the sky

KANPUR: Three years ago, India launched its first nano satellite, Jugnu, made by a team of 45 IIT-Kanpur students. The team, including five girls, made the accomplishment under the guidance of project director Prof NS Vyas of IIT-K. The satellite was launched by scientists of Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) through a polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) into the Earth’s orbit on October 11, 2011.Three years later, the little marvel ceases to exist.
The nano satellite, a couple of months ago, had stopped sending the beacon signal to its base station in Isro. The satellite tracking centre that was raised at IIT-Kanpur for tracking the satellite three years ago has also closed down.
Talking to TOI, Prof NS Vyas, currently on deputation to Rajasthan Technical University as vice chancellor, says the nano satellite had outlived its life of six months and while sustaining in the Earth’s orbit, it had performed all necessary functions.
“Jugnu was the most challenging and complex project undertaken by any academic institution post- independence. The students who started with nothing got success in developing a complete satellite in two years’ time. At the advanced stage of the satellite’s development, the students were interacting with Isro scientists at their frequency. The scientists gave equal importance to the students. This was unique,” says Vyas. After a while, the students had started learning from each other by way of discussions and deliberations, he added.
Vyas recalls how the students used to work day and night and eat and sleep on the lab premises. “It was a massive exercise during the golden jubilee celebrations. The students not only designed and developed the satellite but also fabricated it. They had also designed the ejection system for Jugnu”.
Shantanu Agarwal, a former student head of the team of Jugnu, says the nano satellite lost its connection with the ground station and might have converted into debris in the Earth’s orbit. According to him, Jugnu was made for a period of six months but it outlived its life and till last year when its second anniversary of launch was celebrated, the satellite was alive and ticking.
“Jugnu was last tracked by a group of HAM radio professionals from Japan in 2013. Now, it has lost touch with the ground station in Isro”, says Agarwal, who now runs a two-year old start-up in aerospace sciences along with one of his team members from IIT.
Shantanu reminisces how tired students used to fall asleep in the lab while working on different components of the satellite. For all of them, it was a challenge to work on Jugnu while managing their studies.
But no student would ever regret it. Shantanu says it was an experience of a lifetime because as a student it is almost impossible to get a chance to work on a satellite and also to see its launch.
“Working with Isro scientists was a great opportunity for all of us. They never treated us like students but professionals. Our potential was given recognition by the scientists and this is how we ran high on confidence,” says Shantanu.
“At the time of Jugnu’s launch via PSLV C-18 from Sriharikota, we were present there. We had installed and integrated the satellite in the launch vehicle. We were overhwelmed and shouted at the top of our voices when the launch became a success,” says Shashank Chintalgiri with pride. He was a senior member of the student team of Jugnu.
The aim of Jugnu is to develop long-term infrastructure and human resources in IIT-K for future space research programmes in collaboration with Isro.
Vyas however, expresses concern that once technology is developed it should be passed to more users. “The concern is that technology developed dies inside a lab if not put to use. To keep it alive, we need to pass it on to more users,” says the project director for Jugnu.