InspireSat-1 was successfully launched on board the PSLV C52 mission on February 14, 2022 and is being successfully operated by the students of IIST from the IIST ground station with support from the INSPIRE partners including LASP, USA and NCU, Taiwan, and NTU, Singapore. The spacecraft had an expected mission life of 6 months, however it has continued to work for more than one year till date [07-03-2023] collecting valuable scientific data.

INSPIRESat-1 is a student satellite jointly developed by Small-spacecraft Systems and PAyload CEntre (SSPACE), Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), Thiruvananthapuram, India, and Laboratory of Space Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA, to provide education and space science research to the students of the collaborating universities. Two other universities who contributed in this journey include NTU, Singapore and NCU, Taiwan.

The main scientific aims of the INSPIRESat-1 mission are:

Improve the understanding of Ionosphere dynamics through observations of ion temperature, composition, density and velocity. This effectively means characterization of plasma parameters and irregularities in the low- and mid-latitude ionosphere.

Improve our understanding of the sun’s coronal heating processes by measuring the Soft X-Ray spectrum of the sun.”

The payloads are expected to capture data for scientific requirements in the polar low earth Orbit (LEO) of approximately 529 Km altitude. The science data is being shared online from the website of LASP, University of Colorado, Boulder.

INSPIRESat-1 is a 3-axis stabilised spacecraft carrying two payloads, the CIP and the DAXSS. The spacecraft weighs 8.38Kg with stowed dimensions = 312mm x 190mm x 221mm [during launch without the ring], and deployed dimensions = 535mm x 190mm x 450mm [in space]. The INSPIRESat-1 was environment tested and flight qualified in LASP. The spacecraft was integrated with the IIST ground station and launched by the PSLV.

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