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NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has launched a miniature satellite, “Ramansat 2” designed by a 17-year-old Indian student to the edge of the space. The satellite was successfully launched from NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in the US state of New Mexico and achieved an altitude of 38 km.

The satellite named “RamanSat 2” and measuring 4 cm x 4 cm x 4 cm, was developed by, Aabhaas Sikka, who is currently studying mechanical engineering in Delhi.

The experiment, which is intended to make the exploration of space safer for humans and satellites, consisted of a balloon carrying “RamanSat 2”. The satellite carrying state-of-the-art equipment, is designed to measure radiation from the sun and space reaching the Earth.

“RamanSat 2” was developed during Sikka’s internship with SPACE-India, a New Delhi-based organisation working in the field of astronomy, space education and technology. This project was put in an international space competition titled “Cubes in Space”, that NASA conducts in partnership with a US-based non-profit organisation called idoodledu inc. The competition provides an opportunity for students to build their experiments, out of which the chosen ones are flown to space. The project was amongst the 160 chosen, selected to be flown of the total of 350 experiment proposals that were submitted by participants from around the world.

In 2017, a high school team from India’s Chennai city developed a satellite that was launched by NASA as part of the same project. The satellite was named after late former Indian president Dr. A. P.J Abdul Kalam.