Chennai, The five member student team and Space Kidz India are hoping to receive signals on Saturday from their nano-satellite Kalamsat launched on Thursday night by an Indian rocket, said a top company official.
Kalamsat is a 10 cm cube, 1.2 kg communication satellite with a life span of two months. The satellite cost is about Rs 12 lakh.
“We are hoping to receive the signals from Kalamsat tomorrow (Saturday). While officials of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have assured that it is normal and nothing to worry, we are anxious,” Srimathy Kesan, Founder CEO of Space Kidz India told IANS.
According to her, only one fourth of the solar battery panel seems to have been exposed to the Sun on Friday which was not sufficient to charge the batteries onboard.
“ISRO officials have told us not to worry. They have said it happens like that and sometimes it may take two or three days to get the signals from the satellite,” Kesan added.
The satellite tracking control room is in the Space Kidz India office here.
On Thursday night ISRO’s rocket PSLV put into orbit defence satellite Microsat R.
After that, the rocket’s fourth stage turned into an orbital platform for Kalamsat fixed on that.