Munal Satellite built by a nine core team of high school students was set to be launched on 12th January in collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organization (IRSO) but the effort resulted in failure. The project was initiated under the collaboration of Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) and Antarikkchya Pratisthan Nepal (APN). Under the mentorship of highly qualified mentors, the CubeSat (cube shaped nanosatellite) was accomplished under a 2 year long project.
Students from Chaitanya Secondary School, Sanjiwani Model Higher Secondary School, Azad Secondary School, and Kathmandu University High School (KUHS) were involved in the project under the assistance of NAST whereas the Nepali space startup APN helped students in the design and fabrication of the satellite.
'Munal' Launch Failed During Ascent: 16 Satellites Lost On the Way
Once Munal reached orbit, it was set to be operated from a ground station in Khumaltar, Lalitpur. Despite Nepal’s dependence on international partners for launch services Nepal is making a best mark in the field of space technology. Munal was expected to be used for vegetation monitoring, processing data using artificial intelligence, and testing indigenous space technology.
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| Source: the Diplomat Nepal |
As per Dr. Rabindra Prasad Dhakal, Secretary of NAST, the satellite was set to launch on ISRO's SLV-C62 rocket. ISRO’s SLV-C62 has a cost effective system which can be used for multiple small satellite launches at a single launch. Dr Dhakal said that Munal was set to launch at 10:17 AM Indian Standard Time from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, India.
However, India’s first launch of 2026 failed due to several issues with the third stage of its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) resulting in the loss of a primary Earth observation satellite 'Theos-22' and 15 smaller co-passenger spacecraft including 'Munal'.
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| Source: the Rising Nepal |
The Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (IRSO) V. Narayanan said,
"The performance of the vehicle, up to the end of, close to the end of the third stage was as expected. Close to the third stage , we were seeing a little more disturbance in the vehicle roll rates. And subsequently, there was a deviation observed in the flight path."
"We are analysing the data and we shall come back at the earliest."
Nepal’s First Satellite 'NepaliSat-1' was launched on 17 April 2019 as part of Cygnus NG-11 by the United States. Two Nepali scientists Hariram Shrestha and Aabhas Maskey developed the nanosatellite while studying at Japanese Kyushu Institute of Technology.,
