Vishwas Kothari/TNN
 
Pune, Feb 28: The Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K) has embarked on a mission to become the first academic institution in the country to design and develop a nano satellite. The launch of this nano satellite, Jugnu', is scheduled for the end of this year.

Speaking to ToI here on Thursday, IIT-K's dean (resource, planning and generation) Sanjeev K Aggarwal said, "The Indian Space and Research Organisation (Isro) is assisting in the project, which forms part of the run-up activity for a bigger contributory role we (IIT-K) expect to play in Chandrayaan-II."

The second phase of India's unmanned moon mission is scheduled for launch by Isro in 2011 or 2012.

He said, "The entire exercise is aimed at familiarising students with system building; the nano satellite is a full integration project."

Referring to Jugnu', Aggarwal said, "The nano satellite will weigh around 7 to 9 kg and is currently being designed and fabricated by students and faculty in the IIT-K labs."

"The launch is intended to put the nano satellite in the polar orbit, between 700 and 800 km distance from earth," he added.

The polar orbit is an orbit in which a satellite travels from north-to-south direction and passes above or nearly above both the poles of the earth. Polar orbit is normally used for purposes like earth mapping, earth observation and reconnaissance.

Jugnu will carry high resolution cameras to puck up images meant for data analysis. It is also intended to aide collection of information for flood, drought and disaster management.

Aggarwal said, "While ISRO will launch the nano satellite for us, the control earth station for the purpose of communication and reconnaissance images, will be located on the premises of IIT-K."

Meanwhile, Aggarwal said that the IIT-K has launched a thorough review of the curriculum for its undergraduate degree programmes. "The review is part of an exercise that is taken every 10 years to see that the curriculum remains in tune with what the industry wants from our product, ie the students."

Also, he said, the idea is to sustain the distinct differentiating edge, which IIT graduates enjoy over their counterparts from other institutes in the country. There would be focus on emerging areas of study in fields related energy and nano-materials, among others, he said.