Brahmapur boy Gurudatta Panda is in a team of technologists who privately built the first communication satellite for the ISRO.
The satellite will be launched from a space station in the US in November.
Gurudatta is the son of Dr Prana Chandra Panda and Manisha Dash of the Ananta Nagar, 5th Lane area. He is working in a telecommunication firm in Hyderabad.
The satellite will give information during the natural calamities. The information can be accessed in far flung areas through walkie talkie sets. It’s a small sized satellite, whose life span is minimum two years.
According to Gurudatta, the ISRO has started outsourcing private firms for manufacturing satellites and these selected firms are getting funds from different sources like FDI, private organisations, ISRO and under Startup Policy of the Central Government. While the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) has approved the project, the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry has allotted frequencies.
Notably, Gurudatta was the only Radio Operator to have worked during Phailin in the disaster communication sector in south Odisha.
