• The World’s Largest All-Girls Lunar Mission Marks a Month of Historic Milestones

Mission ShakthiSAT is a global all-girls space initiative bringing together young women from 108 countries through space science, aerospace engineering, technology, innovation and peaceful space exploration. Led by Space Kidz India, the mission is designed to move girls beyond simply learning about space and give them the opportunity to actively understand, build and work with space technologies

Mission ShakthiSAT Phase 2 represents a major step in creating a global platform where young women can gain hands-on experience in spacecraft systems, satellite engineering, payload integration, electrical fabrication and mission operations. The programme connects students across nations with scientists, engineers, universities and international space-technology teams, creating opportunities for collaborative learning and real-world aerospace experience.

Dr. Srimathy Kesan, Founder & CEO of Space Kidz India and the driving force behind Mission ShakthiSAT, has envisioned the mission as a pathway to place young women at the centre of humanity’s future in space. Under her leadership, the initiative aims to provide girls with access to space technology and engineering opportunities irrespective of their background, enabling them to develop the confidence and technical skills required to become future scientists, engineers, innovators and space explorers.

A defining component of Mission ShakthiSAT Phase 2 is its student-led spacecraft development programme. Students are actively involved in the mechanical assembly and integration of a 12U CubeSat, gaining practical experience with real spacecraft architecture and engineering processes. Their work includes mechanical assembly of the CubeSat structure, integration and alignment of six international payloads, hands-on electrical assembly, solar-panel soldering, power-bus preparation and practical understanding of spacecraft subsystems.

The six international payloads involve teams from Latvia, Egypt, the USA, Brazil, Australia and Switzerland, covering multiple areas of space technology including Earth observation, deployable drag-sail systems and advanced sensing technologies. Through this international collaboration, students gain direct exposure to multidisciplinary spacecraft engineering and the processes involved in transforming scientific concepts into flight-ready technologies.

Mission ShakthiSAT also extends beyond conventional STEM education by placing students at the centre of design, assembly, integration and technical collaboration. As part of this effort, Space Kidz India donated a satellite ground station to Gautam Buddha University, providing students and researchers with practical capabilities in satellite tracking, telemetry and positional-data collection. The mission is founded on the principle that space should serve scientific discovery, education, international cooperation and the advancement of humanity. By connecting young women across 108 nations through a common technical mission, Mission ShakthiSAT uses space technology as a platform for global collaboration and shared scientific progress.

Mission ShakthiSAT forms part of a broader pathway from hands-on space education to actual spaceflight, with planned Low Earth Orbit and lunar missions. The programme provides participating girls with free access to space-technology education and practical engineering exposure, enabling them to understand spacecraft not simply as observers, but as future engineers, scientists and mission designers.

With participation spanning 108 countries, student-led spacecraft development, international payload collaboration and a vision extending towards the Moon, Mission ShakthiSAT represents a global platform for young women to participate directly in the technology that will shape humanity’s future beyond Earth.

108 Nations. One Mission. One Generation Building Humanity’s Future in Space