I was talking to one of my flat-mates, who all of a sudden told me that he was working on a Nano-Satellite. I was left surprised and we got into a bit detail. Sathyabama University is sponsoring this low-earth-orbital Nano-Satellite of which the primary aim is to measure pollution. He is working for the Ground Station Subsystem (there are two students in total). The total crew comprises of 27 students, 7 faculty members and a Research Dean. ISRO has agreed to launch this Nano-Satellite for a few crores.
I mean these people are just pursuing the IIIrd year of B.Tech and they are launching a Nano-Satellite! India Shining haaan!
For the First time in India-
· Till this point of time, no Nano-Satellite has been launched to detect air pollution (especially Green House Gases).
· The Cross-Yagi antennae has been used in the Ground Station to receive signals from the Nano-Satellite.
As per my flat-mate, Dr. Raghav Murthy was one of the people who encouraged them to go into it. They are into it from the 2nd year of B.E. and approximately 40% work is completed and it is supposed to be launched by 2010.
So he asked me, “Bhaiya, mera presentation dekhenge kya”? I said, “Zaroor”. Going through his presentation, I interrupted him at various points. Like, at one place the Signal-Noise Ratio of the satellite was written as minimum (those who are not interested in ratios may skip this part). I took the Signal-Noise Ratio as Signal/Noise and argued that for the numerator to be maximum and the denominator to be minimum (i.e. to receive the maximum signal with minimum noise) the Signal-Noise Ratio should be maximum. He became a bit confused and told me that he’ll get it clarified from his faculty-members. [Next day, the moment I returned from the office, he explained me that it’s not simply a ratio. This ratio represents how much noise is there in a signal and therefore this ratio is minimum.]
Next came the Poisson Ratio and I was reminded of the IAD classes. I enquired about it but didn’t understand much. Further he explained me how did they zero in on two crossed yagi antenna for the Ground Station.
Needless to say that this person named Tinku has been the topper at the Satyabhama University and this satellite-launching-news was covered by the Times of India- Chennai Edition on 26.06.09. visit this link.
