Tamil Nadu Students Launch Mini Satellite to 22 km Height

Showing an excellent demonstration of scientific skill, 13 students of the Class XI batch of Ariyakudi Government Higher Secondary School in Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu have successfully launched a 600 gram mini satellite.

• By sending a compact 600 gram device into the stratosphere through a helium balloon, the students aimed to collect real-time data, which is often difficult to obtain through observations made on the ground.
• The device reached a height of 22 km before it was safely recovered.
• This mission named Vikko Sat-1 was specially designed to detect fungal spores in the stratosphere using five special sensors, which is a major milestone for student researchers in Tamil Nadu.
• The main objective of this launch was to study the concentration of fungal spores at higher altitudes. These biological particles play an important role in crop health and environmental cycles, and if they fall from the upper atmosphere they can affect crops.

About ‘Vikko Sat 1’

• Students of the government higher secondary school of Class XII in Sivaganga district launched a 600 gram mini satellite into the atmosphere to detect fungal spores with 5 sensors. It went up to 22 km and was successfully recovered.
• The students built this mini satellite themselves in six months, and equipped it with special adhesive surfaces to capture samples.
• The mini satellite went up to a height of 22 km, and entered the stratosphere, which is the second layer of the atmosphere.
• At this altitude, onboard sensors worked to identify how fungal spores behave in thin air and low temperatures. This layer is a critical zone for scientific research, and reaching here with a device built by students is a remarkable technical achievement.
• This project proves that high-level science is not limited only to elite laboratories. These Class XI students managed the entire process from design to recovery.