Which of the following is Academic Institute Satellite?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — D, SATYABAMASAT (the paper prints 'SATYABAMASAT'; the satellite's actual name is SathyabamaSat). It is a small nano-satellite designed and built by the students and faculty of Sathyabama University, Chennai, to monitor greenhouse gases, and it was launched by ISRO as a co-passenger. Being made by a university, it is the 'academic institute satellite' among the four options — the other three are ISRO's own operational missions.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) An ISRO earth-observation / remote-sensing satellite (launched 2010) used for cartography and mapping — a government mission, not built by an academic institute.  (b) India's first dedicated meteorological (weather) satellite, launched by ISRO in 2002 and named after astronaut Kalpana Chawla — not a student/university project.  (c) Part of ISRO's INSAT series for communication and meteorology (1999) — an operational government satellite, not an academic one.

Concept: Academic-institute (student) satellites are small satellites — usually nano- or micro-satellites — designed and built by university teams and then launched by ISRO, generally as co-passengers on a PSLV flight. They give students hands-on space-engineering experience. SathyabamaSat is one such satellite; ISRO's CARTOSAT, INSAT and KALPANA series are large operational missions run by the space agency itself.

State PCS 2019 Q31 — Science & Technology PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2019 Q31 — Science & Technology PYQ with Answer