Young minds are all set to create history these days, especially in the field of technology. The minds of the people are gravitating towards creating unique objects. The initiative of creating history in the global space has already been started by an eighteen year old boy named Rifath Sharook. This young talented boy has created a satellite weighing just 64 grams. This is going to be the smallest satellite in the world till date and is also a first one to be manufactured via 3D printing.
Creation of the lightest satellite has been given utmost importance by NASA, and so, this satellite will be launched by NASA sounding rocket on June 21 from Wallops Island. The satellite is named KalamSat, after former President and India’s top nuclear scientist APJ Abdul Kalam. It is going to be a proud moment for all the Indians as for the first time such an experiment from an Indian student is taken forward by NASA.
It came before the eyes of NASA in a competition organized by NASA and an organization called “I Doodle Learning”. The competition is known as “Cubes in Space”. The satellite made by this young boy from an unknown town of Pallapatti in Tamil Nadu made its way in the competition.
This unique satellite is made of reinforced carbon fibre polymer. It is going to be a sub-orbital flight. On the subject of acquirement of such material, Rifath claimed, “We obtained some of the components from abroad and some are indigenous.” He further explained, “The main role of the satellite will be to demonstrate the performance of 3D printed carbon fibre.”
The tiny satellite will operate for 12 minutes in a micro gravity environment of space and the total time of the mission will be of 240 minutes.
The core of this experiment was truly based on designing a satellite that can fit into a four-metre cube weighing exactly 64 grams, which was observed by Rifath and worked upon. He mentioned, “We did a lot of research on different cube satellites all over the world and found ours was the lightest.”
Indians are going to be really proud and hope that our future generations carry forward the great work and fame earned by great people like APJ Abdul Kalam in the field of science and technology. Cheers to all the young minds and the upcoming generations!
