UNESCO funds launch of Seychelles first-ever balloon satellite
Seychelles' first-ever balloon satellite
In a significant initiative towards boosting scientific temper and enthusiasm for space technology in the young citizens of Seychelles, an Indian organization facilitated the launch of Seychelles' first-ever balloon satellite.
Completely funded by UNESCO, this project dubbed 'Mission Payanke' began with a four-member team from 'Spacekidz India' training the school students from the African nation in satellite fabrication, related fields, and helping them execute the launch and recovery of the balloon satellite weighing 2.5 kg.
According to Dr. Srimathy Kesan, Founder & CEO of Spacekidz India, their four-member team held a 11-day workshop (from April 19-30) for a group of 30 students, who hailed from humble backgrounds in the archipelagic nation. The programme imparted training in the design, fabrication, and launching of a balloon satellite, branches of engineering such as electronics, electrical, computer science, mechanical, besides the tracking, telemetry, and telecommand of the launched satellite.
Responding to a query from WION, Dr. Kesan elaborated that the 2.5kg satellite that was launched using a helium balloon, carried sensors to measure radiation, pressure, temperatures, and other student-built payloads and LoRa module(meant for wireless, Long Range communication).
"The helium balloon with the satellite was attached to a parachute and then launched to reach an altitude ranging between 70,000-1,00,000feet, where data collection about upper atmosphere and near-space can be conducted. In his case, our balloon reached 73,000 feet and then expanded and burst, only to be carried down slowly by the attached parachute. All through the journey, we had an onboard 360-degree camera giving us live aerial photos and data via the Slow-scan television transmission technique" she explained.
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Later, the satellite which happened to have landed on a hillock was located using GPS and later spotted using a drone, following which the payload was recovered. According to SpaceKidz, this is the first time that an Indian aerospace organization has been abroad and launched balloon satellites for educational purposes.
Conducted in the presence of the Vice President and other senior Government officials of Seychelles and Gen Dabir Singh Suhag(retd), the Indian High Commissioner to Seychelles, this initiative provides impetus to Seychelles' national effort of building a STEM(Science, Technology, Engineering AND Math) Research Park and experimenting with rockets, in the coming years.
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