What does SWAYAM stand for? 

Swayam

Swayam is a 1-U picosatellite (CubeSat) developed by the undergraduate students of College of Engineering, Pune. They have successfully completed assembly of the flight model having a size of 1-U and weight of 990 grams under the guidance of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in January 2015. The structural design of the satellite, design of its electronic and control systems as well as the manufacturing of the satellite was carried out by the students. The project was completed over a span of 8 years and more than 200 students worked on it. The Satellite was launched by ISRO on June 22, 2016 along with Cartosat-2C by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C-34 from the second launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota, India. The satellite is to be placed in low earth orbit (LEO) around the Earth at a height of 515 km.Payload of the Satellite is point to point packet communication with which a user can send and receive messages from one point to other point on the earth. Scientific objective of the satellite is to demonstrate passive attitude control to stabilise and appropriately orient the satellite. This technique is being used for the first time on an Indian Satellite. Another objective is to provide Low earth orbit channel characterisation in UHF HAM band.

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