02 February 2024 marked a defining moment in the journey of CSTERC Techno Science LLP. On this day, CSTERC successfully conducted its first-ever Near-Space Satellite Payload Launch Mission, taking a student-designed scientific payload from the classroom to the edge of space.

The mission was conducted for Subham Vidya Mandir School, Sirkali, with students from Subham Vidya Mandir and Kola Saraswathy Vaishnav Senior Secondary School participating in the programme. More than a demonstration, the mission was designed as an immersive learning experience in which students were introduced to the fundamentals of satellites, payload development, scientific data collection and analysis, and the practical challenges involved in sending an experiment into the near-space environment.

From the Classroom to Near Space

CSTERC’s vision has always been to make space science more accessible through hands-on learning. This mission took that philosophy one step further.

Instead of simply learning about satellites through textbooks or presentations, the students were introduced to the process of designing and preparing a scientific payload for a near-space mission.

The programme was structured over two days.

The first day focused on the foundations required to understand a space mission. Students learned about the fundamentals of satellites, satellite payloads, scientific instruments, data acquisition and analysis techniques. They were introduced to the idea that a satellite is not merely a machine that travels around Earth, but a platform carrying instruments specifically designed to observe, measure and understand our planet and the wider universe.

The training also gave students an opportunity to think like mission designers: What do we want to measure? What instrument do we need? How should the experiment be configured? How will the data be collected? And, most importantly, how can we turn the data into meaningful scientific information?

Designing a Payload to Study Earth’s Atmosphere

The scientific objective of the student payload was to explore the atmospheric layers of Earth, with particular interest in the ozone layer and its basic properties.

The students’ payload was designed to carry the experiment into the atmosphere and collect observations during its ascent. This gave them an opportunity to connect concepts they had learned in the classroom with a real-world scientific environment.

To complement the scientific experiment, CSTERC also integrated a wide-angle optical camera into the payload. The camera was designed to document the mission throughout its journey, capturing the changing visual appearance of Earth and the atmosphere during the ascent and descent.

The resulting imagery provided an extraordinary visual perspective of the journey—from the lower atmosphere towards the stratosphere and eventually back towards the ground.

For the students, this was not simply a video recording. It was a visual record of their own experiment travelling into an environment that most people only encounter through photographs and scientific missions.

Mission Day: Reaching the Stratosphere

On the second day, the student-built payload was prepared for launch.

The mission carried the payload to an altitude of approximately 38 kilometres, reaching the stratosphere before beginning its descent back towards Earth.

Watching the payload rise from the launch site into the atmosphere was the culmination of the students’ preparation and training. Concepts that had previously existed as diagrams, equations and classroom discussions were suddenly part of a real mission.

The wide-angle camera recorded the journey, producing mesmerizing visuals of the Earth and atmosphere from high above the surface.

The mission also provided students with a practical understanding of how atmospheric conditions change with altitude and why different layers of Earth’s atmosphere are important to scientific research.

Inspiring the Next Generation of Space Scientists

The mission was further strengthened by the presence of Mr. Ingersoll Selladurai, Former Group Director, Mahendragiri Propulsion Centre, ISRO, who attended the programme as the Chief Guest.

His presence was an important source of encouragement for the participating students. For young learners aspiring to enter the fields of science, engineering and space technology, interacting with experienced professionals from India’s space programme can turn an abstract ambition into something tangible.

The message of the programme was simple: students do not have to wait until they become scientists or engineers to begin working on real scientific problems.

With the right guidance, curiosity and access to technology, they can begin that journey while they are still at school.

A Successful Mission—and a New Beginning for CSTERC

The mission was successfully completed, with the payload reaching the targeted near-space altitude and returning safely to the ground.

For CSTERC, however, the significance of the mission went far beyond a successful launch.

It demonstrated that a student-focused organisation could create opportunities for young people to participate directly in space technology, scientific payload development and near-space experimentation.

The mission also became an important foundation for CSTERC’s subsequent work in near-space and high-altitude balloon missions. What began with this first student payload launch would grow into a continuing effort to provide students with opportunities to design, build, launch and recover scientific experiments from near space.

Taking Space Education Beyond the Textbook

The Subham Vidya Mandir mission represented an important shift in the way CSTERC approached space education.

A telescope allows a student to look into space.

A satellite payload allows a student to become part of a space mission.

That distinction is at the heart of CSTERC’s approach.

The first Near-Space Satellite Payload Launch Mission showed students that space science is not only about watching rocket launches or studying distant planets. It is also about building instruments, asking scientific questions, collecting data, analysing observations and testing ideas in environments that cannot be easily reproduced in a classroom.

On 02 February 2024, a group of students from Sirkali took that first step.

Their experiment travelled to approximately 38 kilometres above Earth, into the stratosphere, carrying their scientific curiosity with it.

And for CSTERC, it marked the beginning of a new chapter: from teaching about space to enabling students to build for space.