Tamil Nadu engineer designs world’s lightest satellite

THANJAVUR: S Riyasdeen, Second-year student of Mechatronics Engineering, Sastra University has designed the lightest Femto-satellite which weighs less than 100 grams. It has been selected by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the launch under ‘Cubes in Space’ programme.

Riyasdeen designed 37 millimeter (mm) sized Femto satellites VISION SAT v1 and v2 with a payload of 30 mm. He used polythermide thermoplastic resins and 3D printing technology in a competition conducted by NASA which had 1000 participnts from 73 countries.

Riyasdeen is mentored by INRO labs, Chennai, and his satellites are designed to record around 17 parameters with 11 sensors. VISION Sat v1 will be part of the SR-7 NASA Rocket Mission expected to be launched from the Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, United States of America (USA) in June 2021. Sat v2 will be the part of NASA Balloon Mission RB-6 scheduled for the launch in August 2021.