On Friday morning, Seychelles launched its first balloon satellite ‒ ‘Mission Payanke’, hence flying the national flag high. Completely funded by UNESCO, this project dubbed ‘Mission Payanke’ began with a four-member team from ‘Spacekidz India’ training the school students from the African nation in satellite fabrication, related fields, and helping them execute the launch and recovery of the balloon satellite weighing 2.5 kg.
The balloon satellite ‒ ‘Mission Payanke’ ‒ consists of a balloon, a recovery parachute and a pay load. It contains electronic equipment such as radio transmitters, sensors, a 360-degree camera and GPS receivers among other satellite navigation systems widely used for research purposes, collection of data and imagery from near space. The satellite ……will collect data (greenhouse gases) in our ‘near space’ and atmosphere for analysis.
The mission is the work of 30 students from various secondary schools who went through an eight-day training workshop in balloon satellite organised by the division of science, technology and innovation in partnership with Space Kidz India and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
The launch that took place at Stad Popiler was done by Vice President Ahmed Afif. Also present to witness the historical and milestone event were Minister of Lands and Housing, Billy Rangasamy; Indian High Commissioner to Seychelles, General Dalbir Singh Suhag; Dr Srimathy Kesan from Space Kidz India; representatives from the Seychelles Defence Forces, the police, Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA), Seychelles Maritime Safety Authority, Seychelles Bureau of Standards as well as members of the public.
