Ragini Sahu survived a brutal national selection process to join a 108-country student coalition building two lunar satellites for a planned ISRO launch.
MAHASAMUND, July 12 — A teenager from a Mahasamund government school just secured the only spot from Chhattisgarh on an international moon mission. Ragini Sahu has been named one of 20 national finalists for the ‘ShaktiSat’ project, an initiative backed by NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission and run by Space Kidz India. She isn’t just watching a launch. She’ll be physically building lunar hardware.
The ShaktiSat mission mobilises students from 108 countries to construct two distinct satellites. One will hold orbit around the moon, while the other will touch down on the lunar surface to conduct direct scientific experiments.
But how does a high school student qualify for orbital engineering?
She outworked the competition. Sahu registered through the Atal Tinkering Lab at Government Ashibai Golcha Girls Higher Secondary School in 2025. Over the last year, she ground through 120 hours of online training, clearing 21 modules and over 550 coursework assignments covering satellite physics, space innovation, and engineering. The evaluation panel didn’t hand out any free passes.
She survived a rigorous technical vetting and interview process to make the final cut.
And the real work hasn’t even started yet. From August 22 to 31, Sahu will relocate to Greater Noida’s Gautam Buddha University for an intensive national workshop. There, she’ll train directly under scientists from ISRO, IN-SPACe, and Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, India’s designated astronaut.
So, what’s the endgame for this student-built hardware? Space Kidz India and ISRO plan to mount both satellites on a launch vehicle at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, targeting an October 11 liftoff to mark the International Day of the Girl Child. Mahasamund Collector Vinay Kumar Langeh and district education officers publicly backed Sahu’s selection today, cementing her status as a regional benchmark for scientific achievement.
They’re sending a local girl’s engineering straight to the lunar dust.
