On Thursday, India made history yet again by launching the Kalamsat-V2 into Earth’s orbit. Launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), what makes Kalamsat-V2 so special is the fact that it is the world’s lightest satellite! Weighing at just 1.26 kgs, the satellite is even lighter than a wooden chair.
The satellite was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Chennai on Thursday night and was a beautiful milestone that will definitely be remembered for a very long time. Also because it was designed and built by students of Space Kidz India - a private organisation that is dedicated to encouraging students to innovate in the field of science and education.
Even though the satellite was made within a very short span of time, six days to be precise, the time taken to perfect the technology and get everything detail right was much more. According to Srimathy Kesan, a 45-year-old professional who has been closely associated with this project at Space Kidz India, it took the group six years to perfect this technology. In 2017, a 64-gram version of the Kalamsat was launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) but never really reached the orbit. Funnily, it was nicknamed “gulab jamun” due to its size. The entire Kalamsat-V2 operation costed INR 12 lakh.
Feature image credit: spaceflightinsider.com
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