ISRO’S launch of the PSLV-C58 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on January 1 marked a giant leap for the students and faculty of the New Leap Labs at KJ Somaiya Institute of Technology (KJSIT) in Sion whose amateur radio satellite Somaiya BeliefSat-0 was a part of the payload on the PSLV Orbital Experiment Module. Successfully operating in a 350-km orbit at a 9.6-degree inclination, the satellite, weighing nearly 500 gm, is set to facilitate communications between amateur radio operators aka HAM enthusiasts around the world.

The Somaiya BeliefSat-0