HAMSAT was a 42 kg Indian microsatellite that relayed amateur (ham) radio signals. Launched with Cartosat-1 in May 2005 and designed for one year, it worked for more than nine.
No longer operational, according to the public satellite catalogue.
HAMSAT gave amateur radio operators in India and around the world a relay in space. It carried two transponders. Indian radio amateurs built one with ISRO's expertise. A Dutch radio amateur, then an engineering student at the Higher Technical Institute in Venlo, built the other.
Once working it was given the amateur-satellite name VO-52.
The satellite tested new parts for ISRO, including a lithium-ion battery, gallium arsenide solar panels and a processor-based bus management unit.
PSLV-C6 launched HAMSAT with the 1,560 kg Cartosat-1 on 5 May 2005. It was the first launch from the Second Launch Pad at Sriharikota. Both satellites went into a polar sun-synchronous orbit about 620 km high.
HAMSAT was designed for a one-year life. Its mission ended on 11 July 2014, after more than nine years in orbit, when its lithium-ion batteries failed.