Rifath Sharook, an 18-year-old from India, has made a 3-D printed satellite that weighs just 2.25 ounces and is lighter than an iPhone. The satellite, dubbed KalamSat, was named after the former Indian President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.
KalamSat was Sharook’s winning entry to Cubes in Space – a NASA-supported competition. As part of his prize for winning the competition, NASA will launch the satellite on June 21 from Wallops Island, Va. in a sounding rocket. The mission will last for 240 minutes. Sharook says the purpose of his experiment is to see how 3D printed carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) performs in the microgravity of outer space.
“We did a lot of research on different cube satellites all over the world and found ours was the lightest,” he told the Times of India.
