UiTM is paving the way for Malaysia to some day become a space-faring nation.
IN the words of American astronaut Neil Armstrong as he set foot on the moon in 1969, “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”
The palpable pride emanating from Universiti Teknologi Mara’s (UiTM) staff and students could be felt as their pride and joy, the UiTMSAT-1, made its way to to the International Space Station (ISS).
They watched the live feed of SpaceX’s rocket launch from their Shah Alam campus last Friday.
“T-Minus six, five, four, three, two, one.
“We have liftoff.”
The nanosatellite, Malaysia’s first to make it into space, was transported on board SpaceX’s Dragon cargo spacecraft that was pushed into space by the Falcon 9 rocket.
The 15th cargo resupply mission happened during the early hours at Cape Canaveral Air Force, Florida, in the United States.
About 19 months in the making, the nanosatellite was developed by UiTM postgraduate students Syazana Basyirah Mohammad Zaki and Muhammad Hasif Azami together with others in a project called Joint Global Multi-Nation BIRDS-2 Project, that is being hosted by Japan.
The team consisted of 10 postgraduate students - two from the Philippines, three Japanese and three from Bhutan - at the Laboratory of Spacecraft Environmental Interaction Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan.
The main objective of the project is to expose the participants to a comprehensive and state-of-the-art hands-on experience to develop a nanosatellite.
Both Bhutan and the Philippines also developed their own CubeSats - Bhutan-1 and Maya-1 - that will be delivered to Japan’s ISS module, known as Kibo, and will be launched into orbit.
Each CubeSat, measures 10cm×10cm×10cm and weighs one kilogramme.
All the CubeSats had to pass a technical and safety check by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Tsukuba Space Centre, Japan, before being sent to Florida.
UiTM Centre for Satellite Communication director Assoc Prof Mohamad Huzaimy Jusoh says the nanosatellites will be released into orbit by the middle of August.
If all goes well, he says that the ground station located at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering will receive the Morse Code signal from the nanosatellite 30 minutes after deployment.
“It will be a tense 30 minutes as we wait to see if our nanosatellite works,” he explains.
Assoc Prof Mohamad Huzaimy also says that they will be able to transmit data from three ground stations in Japan, Bhutan and the Philippines.
He adds that UiTMSAT-1 will enter into a low Earth orbit, about 400km above the clouds, and will remain in orbit for about two years.
The short lifespan, he explains, is because the Earth’s gravitational force will pull the CubeSat out of orbit over time, and will become non-functional.
The satellite will be travelling at a speed of 28,000 km/h and pass over Malaysia five times a day, he adds.
He says there are six missions onboard the UiTMSAT-1.
The demonstration of an Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) Digipeater which will enable the CubeSat to be a base station for amateur radio communication.
The demonstration of the nanosatellite’s Store and Forward.
“We have antennas on UiTMSAT-1, which allows us to collect and transmit data from rural areas to our ground stations,” explains Assoc Prof Mohamad Huzaimy.
It will also be an Earth Imaging Camera and a demonstration of UiTM’s first commercial off-the-shelf global positioning system (COTS GPS) technology.
Then there is the measurement of Single Event Latch-up Detection which he says is the measurements of electromagnetic and plasma radiation from the sun which can affect and degrade the surface of the nanosatellite especially its solar panels.
Finally, there is the measurement of Magnetic Fields using an Anisotropic Magneto Resistance (AMR) Magnetometer.
“This is for magnetic measurements, the AMR Magnetometer is tasked to measure the space electromagnetic fields to comprehend the magnetic observation that we are currently measuring from six stations in Malaysia,” he explains.
Congratulating UiTM, Higher Education director-general Datin Dr Siti Hamisah Tapsir said the launching of UiTMSAT-1 to the International Space Station is a major milestone for Malaysian higher education.
“This signifies the existence of a culture of academic excellence within the Malaysian higher education ecosystem because UiTMSAT-1 involved two of UiTM’s postgraduate students.
“This is an indicator that research is an integral part of postgraduate education in Malaysia,” she told The Star.
Dr Siti Hamisah said the Department of Higher Education will continue to support the pursuit of research excellence in Malaysian higher learning institutions.
To infinity and beyond
UiTM first ventured into the realms of space travel in 2012.
Former UiTM vice-chancellor Prof Tan Sri Dr Sahol Hamid Abu Bakar was a key figure in UiTM’s vision to go beyond the skies.
He says the project was originally called the UiTM Satellite Training Programme.
“It was always my dream to put UiTM on the world map.
“During that period, satellite trading and research was well discussed among academia around the world,” he adds.
He says that the dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering Prof Dr Mohd Nasir Taib is instrumental in bringing this vision to life as he was the one who continued to support the project right up to completion.
Although his term as vice-chancellor ended in 2016, Prof Sahol Hamid says: “I feel my dream came true and it’s a great achievement for UiTM.”
Assoc Prof Mohamad Huzaimy, who supervised the Malaysian students throughout the project, would often travel to Japan to monitor the development progress of the CubeSat.
Syazana Basyirah says there were many challenges when designing and developing the nanosatellite.
“But the biggest challenge in producing UITMSAT-1 was the time crunch,” she adds.
Although each of the 10 team members were given specific and critical tasks in the development of all three nanosatellites, it was still a race against time.
“We were having meetings twice a day towards the end of the project.
“We didn’t have any weekend time off,” she says.
They had less than 15 months to design and develop their nanosatellite and would be working almost every day in the laboratory, she adds.
It was a long, tedious process, shares Syazana Basyirah, where each component had to be tested to ensure it could withstand the harsh conditions in outer space.
Factors such as temperature, stability (due to the strong vibrations during the rocket launch) and zero gravity had to be taken into account. The nanosatellite also had to be assembled in a clean room to make sure there are no dust particles on it.
After all their hard work, Syazana Basyirah says she is grateful for the opportunity to learn and be part of the whole process to create a nanosatellite.
Muhammad Hasif thanked UiTM and the Education Ministry (formerly known as the Higher Education Ministry) for sending them to Japan to be part of the BIRDS-2 programme.
“Especially since we are students but are allowed to be involved in such a significant project,” he explains.
“I was also very nervous during the rocket launch and now, we are looking forward to the deployment event (in August) which is the most crucial part,” he adds.
Both postgraduate students were sent to Kyushu Institute of Technology under a special scholarship given by the ministry.
UiTM vice-chancellor Prof Emeritus Datuk Dr Hassan Said says UiTMSAT-1 marks another milestone for the public university and proves that UiTM can be a player in the global arena.
“We can achieve what we believe we can achieve, and that is UiTM’s strength,” he adds before watching SpaceX’s spacecraft launch into outer space from the UiTM Shah Alam campus.
He says that the university has built its own ground station at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering for remote acquisition and data collection.
The ground station has been fully operational since last December.
Prof Hassan adds that he hopes UiTM will one day build a more sophisticated satellite.
“This is the beginning for us to reach an even higher level of success.
“UiTMSAT-1 is paving the way for Malaysia to become a space-faring nation,” he explains.
He is very proud of the two students, Syazana Basyirah and Muhammad Hasif, who were part of the BIRDS-2 programme.
UiTM has also approved the building of a Centre of Excellence for satellite research and development, shares Prof Hassan.
Right now, the university has a Center for Satellite Communication.
He hopes this centre will be a regional hub to conduct high impact research.
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