BITS Pilani Dubai Campus students to build and launch a working satellite MAHASAT

BITS Pilani Dubai Campus (BPDC) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the UAE-based online space education hub, Edutech4Space. Engineering students belonging to BPDC will set up and launch into orbit a working satellite called MAHASAT.

Edutech4Space will train the students on the mission, in collaboration with various global institutions, according to a statement in Zawya.

The creation of the satellite will be overseen by Padma Shri-awardee Dr Mylswamy Annadurai, popularly known as the Moon Man of India. As a former director of the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Satellite Centre, he was also the scientist behind several of India’s successful Moon and Mars missions.

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The aim with this MoU is to help students learn about the different aspects of engineering ranging from design and development, manufacturing and integration, testing and launch, to on-orbit control of technologies like Picosats and Cubesats.

The satellite will be built in phases by students as well as faculty members, added the press statement. First, a picosatellite will be constructed and tested using drones. After this, a ground station at the university campus will be followed by an engineering model of the cubesat, built on the basis of data collected in the field after which the model will be developed for the final launch.

The name of the satellite comes from Sanskrit and Arabic origins. ‘Maha’ in Sanskrit means ‘large’, and ‘Al Maha’ is another name for the Arabian Oryx—BPDC’s campus mascot—and is a sign of endurance.