On December 3, Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched India’s first privately built satellite ExseedSat-1 along with 63 other satellites.
Built by Exseed — a private Indian space venture headquartered in Mumbai — the satellite was carried by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg air force base in California, US.
The company tweeted that "Exseed Sat-1's "V for Victory" Morse code ping has been heard from over 675 kilometres away. Our baby's first cry. Bring out the bubbly, folks!”
Exseed Sat-1's "V for Victory" Morse code ping has been heard from over 675 kilometres away.
Our baby's first cry :-)Bring out the bubbly, folks!— Exseed Space (@ExseedSpace) December 4, 2018
Founder Kris Nair said the commercial grade satellite was made in a matter of months without spending a lot of money, unlike the typical satellite which takes years and millions of dollars to put together.
Typically it takes years and millions of dollars to put together one satellite. With the successful launch of Exseed SAT 1, the team has now demonstrated that it is possible to build reliable commercial-grade spacecraft in a matter of months without spending a lot of money.
— Kris Nair (@krisnair) December 4, 2018
The company, which was founded by Nair and Asshar Farhan in 2017, is looking to set up India’s first contract satellite manufacturing facility which will cater to the growing demands of manufacturing Cubesats, Nano-sats and Micro-sats.
Microsatellites weigh a few dozen pounds (kilograms) and CubeSats are even smaller.
Falcon 9 carried 15 micro-satellites and 49 CubeSats belonging to 34 different clients including public, private and university sources from 17 different countries including South Korea, France and Kazakhstan.
The launch was chartered by a company called Spaceflight, which specialises in space "rideshares," or putting multiple satellites on the same rocket.
First Published: Dec 5, 2018 2:03 PM IST
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