A group of 54 engineering students from Chennai has designed a 10-kg nano satellite to monitor greenhouse gases (GHG) that the Indian space agency is planning to launch in April. The students from the SRM University have been working on the project 'SRMSAT' since 2008. The satellite is being developed under the guidance of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) at a cost of Rs.1Crore. With climate change becoming a cause of serious concern globally, the satellite will monitor GHG – mainly carbon dioxide – in the atmosphere. A grating spectrometer is employed for monitoring earth-based sources and sinks of anthropogenic and natural sources of GHG. “The satellite is scheduled for launch in April this year with ISRO's Megatropics G satellite. We have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the national space agency for the project,” M. Loganathan, former ISRO scientist who is heading the team, told the sources on the sidelines of the ongoing Indian Science Congress at the SRM University campus here.
