Nepal First Satellite Launched:- Launching, Background, Ground Stations & Reception

Launching

Sixty-two years after the erstwhile Soviet Union launched Sputnik-1, the world’s first satellite; Nepal sent its first satellite into space. The first satellite named NepaliSat-1 was launched in the early morning (2:31 am) of Baisakh 5, 2076 (April 18, 2019). As per the US time, the launching date was April 17, 2019. NepaliSat-1 is supposed to reach the International Space Station at 10:45 pm on Saturday.

The satellite was launched from the Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in the United States. NepaliSat-1 is being carried by a cargo spacecraft lifted into space by Antares rocket. Once released into its orbit, the satellite will revolve around the earth four times a day. The orbit lies approximately 400 kilometers above the earth.

Background

The nano satellite about 1.3kg was developed by two Nepalese scientists Aabhas Maskey and Hariram Shrestha, both of whom are currently studying at Japanese Kyushu Institute of Technology. Aabhas Maskey, a PhD candidate in space engineering is the project manager of the Birds-3 project and he involves himself in this project. NAST invested around 20 million rupees. The project was funded while it was constructed under the BIRDS-3 project of the Japanese Kyushu Institute of Technology. The main mission of Birds Program was to support to that country that has never sent their satellite to space.

The satellite has a Nepali flag and the NAST logo. It also has the name of the scientists involved in the making of the Satellite. NepaliSat-1 is expected to revolve around the earth for at least six months.

There are three satellites for three different countries under the project Birds3 satellite project. Other satellites are Srilanka’s Ravana-1, Japan’s Uguisu. All of them are nano satellites and weigh around 1 kg.

Importance of Launching Satellite

The satellite is equipped with a 5-megapixel camera and a magnetometer, It will gather information about Nepal’s topography and earth’s magnetic field, and will be the greater attention the country is paying to the space realm amid domestic and wider regional developments. It is a small satellite and has limited capability. But Nepal’s first entry into space has brought a huge excitement in people and Scientists.

Nepal’s involvement with satellites is expected to continue. The country is working on a second satellite, Nepal PQ-1, to be launched in 2020. And given the growing demand in the telecommunications sector, Nepal is reported to be working with France to launch a communication satellite in 2022.

Preparation of Ground Station for NepaliSat-1

The NAST, however, lacks ground station necessary to gather information sent by the NepaliSat-1. As it will take some time to come to the orbit, NAST has some time to build a ground station or Earth station to communicate with the satellite. The tentative time to build the earth station is around 1 month after receiving the equipment.

Rabindra Dhakal, chief of Faculty of Technology at NAST, said, “Although the country might not benefit drastically from this project, the success of this project means we are now technically capable of preparing such satellites in future.”

Completion of Ground Station for NepaliSat-1

Ground station for NepaliSat-1, the country’s first satellite has come into operation. Nearly five months after launching the satellite, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology finally completed construction of its ground station. Sending command and receiving data from the satellite is now possible from the ground station. Antenna of the ground station on its premises, in Lalitpur, starts tracking the satellite automatically.

Earlier, the antenna was manually configured to track NepaliSat-1. There was delay in setting up the ground station and the construction of the ground station was extended for multiple times. NAST had claimed that it would complete the construction of the ground station and operate it in months ahead of launching of the satellite. After NepaliSat-1 was launched on April 18, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology had again said that the ground station would be operational within a couple of weeks.

We had to rely on neighboring countries Bhutan and Japan to receive data sent by the satellite after it reached earth’s orbit from the International Space Station on June 18.

NAST, the country’s apex body for promoting science and technology, said it will establish National Space Centre within a year.

Reception

PM KP Sharma Oli has congratulated all the Scientists and institutions involved in the development of the Satellite. He also mentioned it is also a matter of prestige for the country to have its own satellite.

“Though a humble beginning, with the launching of NepaliSat-1, Nepal has entered the Space-Era. I wish to congratulate all those scientists and institutions that were involved right from the development to its launching thereby enhancing the prestige of our country,” he said in a tweet.