Measurement of Total Electron Count of the Ionosphere and the Social Goal of Pratham, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay's First Student Satellite

Students from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) are currently in the process of building a fully functional microsatellite named 'Pratham', which is slated for launch by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in the fourth quarter of 2010. The satellite being built is a 260 mm cube and weighs nearly 10kg. This landmark project has completed the phases of Requirements Capture, Conceptual Design, and Preliminary Design and is currently in the Detailed Design Phase. Detailed documentation and thorough reviews were conducted by ISRO scientists and IITB faculty before the conclusion of each of the above Design phases. The goal of the satellite project is to educate students in the field of Satellite and Space Technology in the process of building a satellite for measuring the Total Electron Count (TEC) of the Ionosphere. This paper will discuss the technique being used by Pratham for measurement of TEC with 99.9% accuracy using the principle of Faraday rotation. This method has helped in reducing the cost of the ground station as well as the onboard complexity. The satellite will enable the generation of TEC maps of India and France with the help of