HYDERABAD: The heat waves of what is being touted as the
deadliest wildfire to scorch California
are being felt in distant Hyderabad.
For, the scorcher has scuttled, albeit temporarily, a Hyderabadi’s efforts to put India’s first private satellite – ExseedSat-1 – into space.
The satellite was to be launched on November 19 by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, a private California-based aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services player, but had to be put off due to the wildfire raging across California.
With the blaze now doused, the multifunctional UHF/VHF NBFM amateur communication satellite is expected to blast off into space by Tuesday if everything falls in place.
“Due to the
California wildfire, the project got delayed. It was then supposed to take place on Friday (November 30) but got postponed again. We are now hopeful that it will be launched from California on Monday night or in the early hours of Tuesday and I will be manning my ground station from India,” said Ashhar Farhan, co-founder, Exseed Space.
The Hyderabad resident, who founded Exseed Space along with Kris Nair in Mumbai and is also the founder of the cultural hub Lamakaan in Hyderabad, told STOI that he would share the remaining details of the private satellite developed by their startup to give a boost to private radio operators.
“Our first mission is scheduled for November 2018 on Falcon 9 making us the first private Indian company to send a satellite. We are also part of the private consortium who won the historic AIT bid to build large satellites for the Indian government,” the Exseed Space website states. Interestingly, in the runup to the launch of Exseed-Sat-1, Farhan got a call from Hyderabad police in connection with the launch of his company’s satellite.
Kulsumpura inspector, P Shankar, told STOI that nearly 15 days ago they registered a case under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act after they received a complaint from a Ziaguda resident. The complainant, Raju, alleged that a visual accompanying a story in a local newspaper about the upcoming Exseed Space satellite launch showed a lower number of spokes in the Ashok Chakra (instead of the actual 24) on the tricolour along with an image of the satellite.
When Farhan visited the Kulsumpura police station on Friday to give his reply, he clarified that the visual of a satellite that the complaint is referring to does not relate to Exseed. “It was a telephonic conversation I had with a representative of that newspaper. I have no knowledge why that visual was used. In fact, Exseed Space has not used the Indian flag on its satellite as it is a commercial satellite,” Farhan said.
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