Space Kidz India's ShaktiSAT to Empower Girls in Lunar Mission

By: WE Staff | Thursday, 23 January 2025

·  Over 100 ambassadors have joined ShaktiSAT, an all-girl mission with 12,000 participants, including 108 girls training for satellite building.

·  Space Kidz India, led by Dr. Srimathy Kisan, aims to boost women’s participation in space science and leadership.

Officials said on Sunday that over 100 global ambassadors have agreed to join 'ShakthiSAT', an all-girl team comprising nearly 12,000 participants, mostly students, to launch an orbiter to the Moon in September 2026, providing a major boost to India's space aspirations.

Space Kidz India, a Chennai-based startup initiated The groundbreaking lunar orbiter mission ShakthiSAT. It has launched 19 near-space launch vehicles, three suborbital payloads, and five orbital satellites, including AzaadSAT. 

Officials said that 108 children from 108 countries will be taught about satellite building, which includes basic mathematics and physics. One woman ambassador from each country will handpick 108 girls and they will then undergo 120 hours of training as far as building satellites is concerned.

Officials of  Space Kidz India want to encourage participation from women in the field of physics and space science through their initiative. The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) shared the curriculum for the mission as well.

Space Kidz Founder and CEO, Dr Srimathy Kisan said, "Space research is going to be the future but only women's contribution in it is between 14 percent to 19 percent globally, which again depletes when it comes to leadership roles. We want to give women a level playing field in space and create a borderless world,"

"Though women are multi-talented, we need to remind them about their talent. Imagine when the students who have participated stare at the Moon with a smile on their faces knowing that something they have been part of has reached the Moon. That is hope", she added.

Dr.Kisan shared his insights into Space Kidz's plans concerning this lunar orbital mission and said, "ShaktiSAT technically will be an orbiter on lunar orbit with a payload to capture images of the Moon, but now we have also decided to go for a hard landing".

Brushing aside the speculations of the mission being about feminism, the Space Kidz chief said that it is "more about providing opportunities to girls which they are in dire need of".