NIU may foray into commercial satellite development

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The final nod of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for launch of NUISAT disaster management and warning satellite of Noorul Islam University (NIU) on board ISRO’s PSLV-C36 rocket on November 23 will set the stage for NIU to foray into possibilities of developing commercial satellites. Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand government agencies have approached NIU for assembling satellites.Jharkhand government has presented a Rs 150 Cr project for developing a satellite. NIU also plans to develop satellites with synthetic aperture radars to monitor weather even amidst dense clouds.
Now, NUISAT has cleared all quality checks of ISRO for launch on board the space shuttle PSLV-C36 and as per the official protocol it will be handed over by NIU founder and chancellor Dr AP Majeed Khan to the project director of Quality Assurance at ISRO headquarters in Bangalore on Monday for its final acceptance test, NIU pro-chancellor Faisal Khan told TOI. After placing the satellite in orbit, the success of the satellite in getting the desired output signals, data and images for weather monitoring and disaster alert will help NIU in developing even commercial satellites, he said.
“The project is a realisation of the dream of my father Majeed Khan after his concern to minimise disaster risks in the wake of tsunami in 2004 that claimed many lives. It is made possible by scientific experts led by former ISRO distinguished scientists Dr A E Muthunayagam and Dr M Krishnaswami as its project directors with faculty and students of the 150-member satellite team. Government agencies in MP and Jharkhand have approached us for developing satellites to monitor crops and weather,” he said. Roughly, it incurred an expenditure of Rs 40 crore to develop NIUSAT and received Rs 5 crore worth components as part of ISRO student satellite program. ISRO offers the satellite launch facility free of cost and the support to innovate and inspire an educational institution is highly commendable, he said.
“Proposals for developing cost-effective satellites as part of the United Nations program for precision application to check environment pollution and to control carbon emissions is also pending approval,” NIUST program director Dr AE Muthunayagam said. NIUSAT’s optical payload design is similar to ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission, he said.
NIUST project director Dr M Krishnaswami said the 14.3 kg NUISAT satellite has control system with Micro-electromechanical system based gyroscopic sensors and an optical payload or space satellite communication equipment with multi-coloured Solar camera and real-time multi-spectral swap cameras with 30 m resolution which will help in monitoring disasters such as forest fires, cyclones and tsunamis, With advanced Nano technology, it can map the area with graphics and messages for research applications. Equipped with Remote sensing facility, the Satellite Ground facility at NIU can disseminate messages and data from NIU satellite, he said.
Further, NIU plans to develop satellite with synthetic aperture radars to monitor weather even amidst dense clouds which is not possible with NUISAT’s optical payload. It also plans to develop satellites with `Automatic Identification System’ to monitor 20,000 ships in the sea and even beyond 20 km of the national waters.
At NUISAT presentation ceremony here on Saturday, governor P Sathasivam said the world expects a lot from Indian innovation termed 'Indovation’. He said, such projects will encourage the students to go into start-up ventures once they complete their studies. He also requested the university to create incubation facility to encourage innovation among students.