The Mission aims to have students from various universities /institutions build and launch small satellites (SmallSats) into low earth orbit (LEO). It was envisioned 75 satellites to be launched to commemorate seventy-five years of Indian independence (Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, 1947-2022), seventy-five institutions will launch their student built SmallSats.
The envisioned SmallSats are primarily CubeSats of 1U, 2U, 3U, and other configurations built with cutting-edge technology. Such SmallSats performance is comparable to larger ones based on earmarked payloads and applications. Furthermore, CubeSats with these configurations would use and have access to an extensive range of widely accessible COTS components as well as a variety of launching possibilities.
The aspirational and ambitious Mission 2022, which aims to launch 75 student-built satellites into orbit, has been well structured within a participatory ecosystem building on the combined domain expertise of competent and experienced Indian Space Engineers working in collaboration with leading global SpaceTech organizations. Thanks to the fervent initial backing of organizations/agencies from Israel, Russia, Serbia, and Japan, the mission has expanded today, with over 50+ countries contributing to build strong capabilities in academic institutions for the design and development of student built SmallSats.
Among the many mission objectives, the greater emphasis is on academia focusing on science-based education and experience-based learning, to foster an innovation culture in the country and train the future workforce in the ever-expanding space arena and allied sectors.
The mission's purpose is to educate students on how to design, develop, manufacture, integrate, test, launch, and monitor SmallSats through hands-on learning, besides serving in NewSpace research programmes and a workforce development initiatives. To that end, ITCA has devised a rigorous systems engineering and project management approach to ensure the successful deployment of SmallSats by students under active expert supervision.
The satellites are launched into a 400-500 km LEO orbit and are monitored by ground stations explicitly designed for this purpose at the respective institutions. Typical satellite mission applications identified by ITCA include weather monitoring, earth observation, communication, and the Internet of Things (IoT), geolocation and logistics, disaster management and rescue, etc.
At the end of the successful mission, participants will be able to compile a portfolio of signature space projects that will highlight their competencies.