Kanpur: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur has come in to agreement with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) to launch a nano satellite. It will be the country’s lightest and the institute’s first satellite to be launched in the orbit from Sriharikota.

IIT Kanpur had presented the second design review to ISRO which nodded to launch the satellite.

“Though the memorandum of understanding between ISRO and IIT-K for the project was signed in February, regular review sessions are being carried out by ISRO to check the progress of the project,” said Sanjay Govind Dhande, Director, IIT Kanpur.

“On Tuesday, our technical team working on the project apprised ISRO authorities of the release and antenna mechanism,” he said.In April, the first review of Jugnu was carried out by ISRO.

Since last December, a team of 40 students and around 12 professors, led by Professor and Mechanical Engineering Department Head, Nalinaksh S Vyas have been working on the project.

“A similar project in any European country would have cost over Rs 10 crore but we expect the entire project to complete within a budget of Rs 2-3 crore, without compromising on quality. This is a welcome signal for indigenous remote sensing technologies,” said Vyas.

A technical team led by D Madhav Murthy in the ISRO for Small Satellite, has said that the procedures for informing the ISRO officials for launch by a mother satellite has been provided, along with the details of the positioning of the satellite antenna set up in the institute premises.

Jugnu weighs around 3.5 kgs and would be 34 cm long and 10 cm wide. Equipped with the micro imaging and micro electronic system, it will transfer the images to the IIT Kanpur campus. The high resolution pictures obtained will be used for different applications like drought monitoring, wasteland management, urban planning and flood risk management.

“Although the stipulated life time of the satellite is six months, we are optimistic that it will complete at least 12 months in the orbit,” said Dhandhe.

IT Park will provide jobs to 10,000 people

Poongothai Aladi Aruna

CHENNAI: A formal notification for the setting up of an Information Technology Special Economic Zone by ELCOT at Viswanathapuram in Hosur has been issued by the Central government.

Information Technology Minister Poongothai Aladi Aruna on Monday told reporters at Hosur that the IT-SEZ would be spread over 177 acres and ELCOT would construct a Rs.14-crore complex measuring 50,000 sq ft.

Tenders to erect the building and other basic infrastructure have been floated and construction would start in a couple of months. Expressions of interest would be invited from IT majors for land allotment.

“Once the IT park comes into being, around 10,000 educated people will get employment in the region. As there is a huge demand for software and IT-enabled services, the State government is developing eight IT parks in Tier-II and Tier-III towns in the State,” she said.

Accompanied by officials of NASSCOM, and ELCOT, Dr. Aruna visited the State’s first Panchayat Business Process Outsourcing-cum-call centre at Sanasandiram in Krishnagiri district and inspected the functioning of the Tamil Nadu State Wide Area Network at the Collectorate.

Dr. Aruna also inaugurated the Recruitment Processing Outsourcing unit at Uthangarai with 60 seats. Currently it employs around 30 persons.

This centre, functioning in association FOSTeRA, will undertake resume mining and reverse process outsourcing functions and inform U.S.-based firms about the availability of skilled workers.

The IT Minister visited a couple of rural Common Service Centres in the district that are offering Business to Citizen (B2C) services, such as railway ticket booking and airline booking.

Government to Citizen services will be introduced in the next 25 days.