Chennai: The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) student satellite project, an exploratory mission which was conceived six years back by a group of students and touted for having potential to predict earthquakes, has reached its final stage of completion.
A nano-satellite weighing just 12 kg will be ready for launch in April next year. Currently, the satellite is being integrated at the IIT-M campus after which it will be evaluated by Isro scientists.
Called as IITMSAT, the satellite will be placed in orbit around the Earth at a height of around 700km and designed to measure the proton and electron bursts in the upper ionosphere or magnetosphere throughout its mission life of one year and in the process study occurrence of solar flares, lighting storms and earthquakes.
The project is estimated to cost '3 crore, most of which is funded by the alumni. Harichandran Ramachandran, Electrical Engineering, IIT-M, who gave a presentation about the project to Nasa delegates on Monday, said chances of predicting earthquakes would be an over statement at this juncture, but what we are trying right now is to see electron and proton bursts and study the seismic events and see whether there is any correlation.
To a query, Ramachandran said the whole deliberation about predicting earthquakes is based on a hypothesis that prior to an earthquake there are some re-adjustments that happen 40-50 km beneath the surface and discharge low frequency pulses that can couple in the upper ionosphere. "It's just a theory as of now".
Akshay Gulati, a key member of Team IITMSAT, said predicting earthquakes was not the goal. "We want to provide information for the scientific community. First, our mission is to measure the fluctuations in charges particle fluxes precipitated from the radiation belts to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Understanding these phenomena may aid in the development of a global earthquake warning system in the future". Earlier studies done by a few exploratory missions indicated that a satellite in low-earth orbit can detect the particle bursts and correlate to the location of epicentre of the impending earthquake.
