Hyderabad students’ CubeSat to launch on ISRO’s PSLV-C62
HYDERABAD: In a first-of-its-kind feat, a CubeSat, a class of small satellite, designed and built by Hyderabad students aged 12 to 17 will launch aboard the Indian Space Research Organisation’s PSLV-C62 mission on 12 January at 10:17 AM.
Named Project-1 SBB (Satellite Blue Blocks-1), the payload is the work of 17 students from Blue Blocks Montessori School in Gachibowli, now officially included in ISRO’s launch manifest. The students will witness the launch live from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. Two have received special access to the Mission Control Room, an honour rarely extended to outsiders, especially schoolchildren.
What sets this project apart is its authenticity. Unlike conventional STEM activities with pre-built kits, the students completed the full aerospace engineering cycle, from conceptualization and hardware assembly to writing firmware for real-time telemetry.
“We didn’t just want to watch the experiment. We wanted to be a part of the rocket,” shared one of the young innovators. “Debugging the code when sensors failed to communicate was the toughest part.”
Guided by the BlueBlocks Micro Research Institute under the philosophy of “Structural Autonomy”, where adult supervision is replaced by independent problem-solving, the team soldered commercial off-the-shelf sensors to study temperature variations in space. TakeMe2Space scientists provided technical mentorship, but all execution was student-led.
Rare access to ISRO mission control
Meanwhile, Founder Pawan Goyal hailed the achievement as proof that age is no barrier to high-level engineering. He added, “These are not future engineers, they are today’s flight-ready engineers.”
Most importantly, the project has already drawn international interest. The Nobel Peace Centre in Norway invited Goyal to present its methodology, and a student team has been selected to deliver a technical review at the AMI conference in Mexico.
During a media demonstration at the Media Plus auditorium, the students confidently fielded questions on orbital dynamics, firmware design, and payload integration. The CubeSat will gather weather and humidity data from 450 kilometers in space. This information can be shared with agencies like ISRO and NASA.
Co-founder Munira Hussain highlighted that BlueBlocks integrates modern labs for space, drone, and blockchain technologies into its Montessori curriculum, fostering hands-on innovation from a young age.
Senior officials from ISRO and IN-SPACe have congratulated the students, who are currently in grades 7 to 10 and aspire to become missile scientists and aerospace engineers.
