Current Affairs - Science - Discussion

The first-year engineering students Harikrishan, P Amarnath, G Sudhi and T Giri Prasad from Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science near Chennai built the 4cm 'cube' satellite 'Jaihind-1S' with a 3D printed outer casing from polylactic acid (PLA) nylon material, making it lighter than a medium sized egg, at just 33.39 grams. The satellite has been designed and fabricated for the 'Cubes in Space' competition conducted by Colorado Space Grant consortium, NASA and idoodle-learning. It will be flown on a scientific balloon up to an altitude of 70km. This satellite will be launched from a NASA facility in the US by August. The previous lightweight satellite developed by Rifath Sharook, also from Tamil Nadu, and launched in the same competition in 2017 had weighed 64 grams.