Indo-US MIM Tec. Pvt Ltd will provide ₹1.5 crore towards IIT Madras Satellite project (IITMSAT) as part of its corporate social responsibility programme.
The satellite is a student-led, nano-satellite initiative that began in January 2010 and currently has an interdisciplinary team of over 50 students. It will be a low earth orbit satellite with a mission life of one year.
The project's mission is to collect data about the precipitation of high-energy electrons and protons from the Van Allen Belts in the upper-ionosphere, and to correlate with natural phenomena that cause these electro-magnetic perturbations.
The data collected by IITMSAT will be transmitted to the ground station to be set up in IIT Madras campus during every pass of the satellite.
It will be completely fabricated and tested by IITM students. The project has successfully completed a detailed review by ISRO, and is now in the integration and validation phase. The project was initiated and progressed with the support of the institute and alumni and is now being supported further by Indo-US MIM Tec., says a press release issued by IIT Madras.
The project has entered its final phase with support from Indo-MIM. The satellite is estimated to be ready for launch by the end of 2015. The 12.5 kg satellite will orbit the earth at an altitude of 600-900 km.