Indian satellite to launch Modi photo, holy book into space

New Delhi - The satellite will be launched from Sriharikota spaceport on February 28.

By Web Report

Published: Tue 16 Feb 2021, 9:03 AM

An Indian private satellite carrying a photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a copy of the Bhagwad Gita and names of 25,000 citizens is set to launched into space later this month.

The Satish Dhawan Satellite will be launched by the polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) will carry three scientific payloads and three Indian payloads, including one built by a home-grown start-up.

The satellites will be sent to space onboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C-51 at 10.28 am from the Sriharikota spaceport, near Chennai.

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The Satish Dhawan Satellite was developed by Chennai-based Space Kidz India. On sending Bhagavad Gita, Dr Srimathy Kesan, founder and CEO of SpaceKidz India, expressing his excitement, said the idea was inspired by other space missions that have carried holy books such as Bible.

According to Space Kidz India, Satish Dhawan satellite (SD SAT), named after former ISRO chairman Satish Dhawan, aimed to study space radiation and Magnetosphere and demonstrate the indigenously designed and developed nanosatellite components.

"The satellite also tests the capabilities of LoRa technology in Space which could be helpful for many applications in the future in short and M2M communication", it said.

Modi's photo will include his name as well as the words 'Aatmanirbhar mission'. The names of the ISRO chairperson Dr K Sivan and scientific secretary Dr R Umamaheshwaran will be also be added.

AFP