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The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe), under the Department of Space, Government of India, has given the green light to the development of the SS AMU SAT, the inaugural satellite project of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). The satellite will be named after the university’s founder, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan.

The SS AMU SAT is a Nanosatellite Project that commenced in November 2021 under the AMU Robo Club. This 3U CubeSat has multiple objectives, including utilizing satellite imagery to study economic growth in India’s poorest districts and implementing an in-house image compression technology for faster multimedia transmission. Furthermore, the satellite will conduct various tests on satellite sub-systems that have been developed in-house.

The project was submitted for approval, registration, frequency allocation, and launch in January 2023. In September of the same year, the Student Satellite Committee, chaired by Dr. P K Jain, Director (PMAD) at IN-SPACe, reviewed and approved the design. However, a condition was set that AMU must sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with IN-SPACe, covering all activities from the development to the launch of SS AMU SAT into the Lower Earth Orbit.

Heading the project is Prof. Ekram Khan, Chairman of the Department of Electronics Engineering, with Prof. M.M. Sufiyan Beg, Principal of Zakir Husain College of Engineering and Technology, providing leadership.

The student team responsible for the project is led by Ms. Poorti Varshney and mentored by Dr. C. A. Prabhakar (Former Project Director, ISRO) and Er. Faraz Ahmad (A 2013 batch alumnus). Technical support has been received from AMU alumni currently working with ISRO, as well as various industrial experts worldwide.

The team of students involved in the project includes Kulsum Ilyas, Anant Agarwal, Tarun Singh, Rabiya, Mohammad Ali, Ilma Shah, Ahsan Waseem, Azhan Kamil, Tanu Attri, Mohd. Arquam, Kanuj Chitranshu, Munira Sultan, Atifa Saeed, Kanika, Asif Ali, Syed Muhammad Suhaib, Azam, Gulam Fareed, Samad, Varun Yadav, Mudassir Ali, Tehreem Fatima, Tarannum Zafar, Yashra, Mansha, and Binish Kashif.

The launch of the SS AMU SAT is tentatively scheduled within the next six months.

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