A teenage student from Guyana will travel to New Delhi this August to help build two satellites destined for lunar orbit, marking an unprecedented moment for the small South American nation's engagement with space science. Nareeta Devi Nandkumar has emerged as Guyana's sole representative in the final phase of Mission ShakthiSAT, an ambitious space technology programme open exclusively to young women. Her selection caps a process that has drawn thousands of participants from more than a hundred countries, narrowing to a small cohort now converging in India to complete the build.

Mission ShakthiSAT was founded by Space Kidz India, an organisation based in Chennai that has built a reputation for involving school-age students in genuine satellite projects rather than simulated exercises. The programme enrolled 12,000 girls aged between 14 and 18 across 108 nations, with the stated aim of dismantling the barriers that have historically kept women underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The entire curriculum is delivered free of charge, a decision organisers say was necessary to ensure participants from lower income backgrounds could take part on equal footing with those from wealthier countries.

The programme unfolds in two distinct phases. The first, completed in the middle of 2026, was conducted entirely online and demanded considerable commitment from participants. Students worked through 120 hours of instruction spread across 21 modules, covering subjects that would challenge many university undergraduates: coding, printed circuit board design, ham radio technology and payload development among them. Completion of this phase was a prerequisite for advancing further, and it eliminated all but one candidate per participating nation.

The second phase is now under way. The remaining candidates, one from each country, have travelled or are travelling to India for hands-on work under the guidance of professional scientists. There they will fabricate, test and integrate the components of two satellites intended for lunar orbit, gaining direct experience of engineering processes that are normally closed to school-age students.

For Guyana, Nandkumar's journey to New Delhi between 22 and 31 August represents a shift from months of remote coursework to active participation in spacecraft construction. She will work alongside her counterparts from other nations in what organisers describe as a genuine engineering environment rather than a demonstration.

Her path there was shaped in large part by Devica Uditram, the programme's Ambassador to Guyana, who coordinated the country's involvement from the outset. Uditram guided a cohort of 30 Guyanese teenagers through the demanding Phase One curriculum, providing mentorship as they worked through technical material with little precedent in the country's school system. Her work has drawn attention beyond Guyana's borders. She received commendation from the CARICOM Secretariat as part of its regional STEAM campaign, recognition that points to the wider significance of the programme across the Caribbean.

Uditram's involvement extends beyond mentorship. She is due to attend the Global Women Leadership and Space Diplomacy Summit, held alongside the satellite build, which brings together participants and organisers to discuss international cooperation in science and technology. The summit reflects an ambition that runs through the mission as a whole, namely that scientific collaboration between nations, and particularly the inclusion of young women in that collaboration, can proceed even where formal diplomatic or economic ties are limited.

Nandkumar's selection offers a concrete example of what such cooperation can produce. A student from a country with no domestic space industry has been given the opportunity to help build hardware bound for lunar orbit, working alongside scientists and peers from across the world. For Guyana and other developing nations watching the programme, it suggests that meaningful participation in aerospace work need not depend on national infrastructure or established institutions, and that opportunities of this kind, however small in scale, can shift what young people in emerging economies come to see as achievable.

‍