On November 26, Hyderabad-based private space tech-startup Dhruva Space launched indigenously developed amateur radio communication satellites Thybolt 1 and Thybolt 2 which roughly weigh only 700 grams.

The 0.5-U satellites were launched with the help of ISRO’s PSLV C-54. They were successfully placed in the low-orbit and Hyderabad recorded the first signals from those private satellites that night only.

“Thybolt 1 and Thybolt 2 are two amateur radio communication nanosatellites. They weigh roughly 700 grams and are the size of tiffin containers,” explained Chief Technology Officer Abhay Egoor.

The Hyederabad-based Dhruva Space is a full-stack space technology company that assures that a satellite is successfully launched and placed in the desired orbit. After that, they also operate and monitor the satellites.

“In the Thybolt 1 and 2 missions, the company has done a full stack,” said CEO Sanjay Nekkanti. He added that both are based on the indigenously developed P DoT technology, which is a picosatellite platform that generates power from body-mounted solar panels. The satellites are equipped with technology that assures once they are placed in orbit, the solar panels always face the sun and the antennas always point toward the earth. The power system, communication system, control system, satellite software, and the antenna, all of these are completely developed by Dhruva Space, said Nekkanti.

Nekkanti elaborated on the function of the satellites “Suppose the satellite is passing over Hyderabad; it can pick up a byte, and it will store the byte. Now, say the satellite revolves around the earth and comes over Delhi, the message can be relayed to a ham radio operator there.” The two Thybolt satellites also send their health parameters in the form of morse code which can be received by any individual. “These satellites can also be utilized for some sort of messaging through the Store and Forward messaging facility.”