Student plans of launching an earthquake predicting satellite by 2015

Attempts for an earthquake early warning system are getting more and more frequent, however measuring earthquake before they occur still is a difficult task. A satellite project in Chennai may significantly contribute towards the direction and help in the prediction of strong desctructive earthquakes by studying radiation belts.

Thirty students coming from different engineering disciplines at the Indian Institute of Technology in the city of Chennai are working on a nano-satellite project since 2010, aiming in predicting earthquakes based on ultra-low frequency waves emitted from the ground before a shaking occurs.

The IITMSAT satellite weighs less than 15 kilograms and is going to be launched at a height of 600-800 kilometers from the ground next year. Scientists will try to measure particle fluctuations from the inner Van Allen belt and correlate this data to seismic events, solar flares and lightning storms, according to Akshay Gulati, one of the students who began the project. In this context, Gulati supports that they will try to confirm the theory supporting that earthquakes may be predicted based on ultra-low waves emitted from the ground right before an earthquake occurrence.

The Indian project hopes to further advance a two year old NASA project, having launched two satellites right into the Van Allen belt to study similar phenomena.