By Express News Service

SAMBALPUR: In a bold and revolutionary step, 40 students and faculty from different engineering disciplines at VSS University of Technology (VSSUT) Space Development Programme here are set to build, launch, test and recover indigenously developed reusable satellites and rocket.



With not much of data available about Hirakud dam, the team has decided to use their idea and innovation. Siltation, seepage and unscientific water distribution system, flood control, irrigation and hydel power generation will be some of the areas which the students will be dwelling on.



Active team member, Bodhisattwa Sanghapriya, estimate on silt deposit will be carried out using sounding rocket, designed and developed in R&D Lab of VSSUT. The rocket will carry a Can Satellite (CanSat) payload of around 350 gms well equipped with state-of-the-art technology.

The rocket upon launching will reach a height of over 13000 ft in the sky and deploy the Can-satellite which will monitor the real time scenario of the dam. The CanSat will transmit data to the ground station before it is retrieved for reuse. The untreaded cattle island has been identified to launch the rocket while the satellite and solid propellant will launch the rocket while lithium polymer batteries will be used to operate the CanSat. He revealed that while the rocket is ready, they are working on the CanSat.



As for any such project, funds continue to be a concern and the students are planning to seek help of State Government and industries. After initial trial, all they require is cost of the fuel to ensure that the data on the dam can be collected every year.



The dynamic scanning system would provide the base station with the real-time raw data of the entire study area. The data collected will be analysed using software also developed by the team and provided to the dam management for remedial and necessary action for proper water and flood management.

The students have already held discussion with dam authorities and were also invited by Indian Inventors Association (IIA) at International Innovation Festival, Bangalore- 016, where inventors and scientists from 20 countries participated.

The project has also been selected to showcase our project in upcoming Maker Fest, Ahmedabad and Maker Mela, Mumbai in January 2017. The students aim to collaborate with ISRO to launch our very own satellite v2.0 into a geosynchronous orbit to study the eastern coastline of India.