NIUSAT - STUDENT NANO SATELLITE

Overture

On 26th December 2004, Tsunami struck the shores of India. It hit hard the shores of Southern India, especially Tamil Nadu, and Kanyakumari and the nearby places causing havoc hitherto unknown or never experienced by the people there. The devastation to life and property was shocking and terrifying. The impact of the Tsunami was acutely felt all over the country and the world. Loss of life was alarming. In the wake of the 2004 Tsunami, what became very clear was the lack of prediction measures of natural disasters before they struck.

The Chancellor of Noorul Islam University was acutely aware of the lack of prediction systems in Tamil Nadu and India of the devastating natural calamities like earthquakes, tsunami, and floods. Therefore, an earnest investigation into the possibilities of prediction of natural calamities became a disturbing botheration with the institution. The same was discussed with Sri. A. E. Muthunayagam, an expert in Propulsion Technology in the Indian Space Programme, ISRO, and Advisor of NICHE. With such high goals as to protect lives, properties, and even infrastructure during natural disasters, NIU ventured into building and launching a Nano Satellite into space with the support of space organizations of the Indian Government.

This has resulted in the NIU Nano Satellite Project in alliance with ISRO, Govt. of India. The purpose of building the nano satellite is for agriculture crop monitoring and for developing a disaster management support system to support the coastal peoples of Kanyakumari district. NICHE initiated the vital program for Satellite Technology development in association with ISRO, establishing facilities like Clean room for assembly, integration, testing, and checkout of the satellite, Ground station for command and control of the orbiting satellite, Mission control center for monitoring the health of the orbiting satellite, controlling it and receiving data from it, R&D laboratories for a few subsystems development, and interface with ISRO for launching the Satellite. The students and faculties of NICHE are associated with these activities.

With the able guidance, effective support, and direct involvement of Prof. Krishna Swamy, the project director of NIUSAT (former director, ISRO), the NIUSAT MARK - I Nano Satellite is being designed and developed under the ISRO Student Nano Satellite Program for Agriculture and Disaster Monitoring support applications. The Imagery from the NIUSAT MARK - I would be used for identifying potential agricultural diseases affecting crops and to provide timely information for the Disaster Management Support Program.

The Aim of the Project is to Establish Project Teams and Management Systems with Faculties and Students of the University, establish State of the Art Knowledge base in Satellite technology and Applications with necessary Infrastructure, Assembly, integration, and checkout facilities, including Clean room, Research laboratories, and Ground station with communication links to orbiting satellites and also to conduct Academic Programs and award Post Graduate Degree and Diplomas with appropriate Teaching and Learning Process and Systems to train students & faculties.