BITS Pilani Dubai’s MAHASAT student satellite completes engineering model phase, moving closer to flight readiness. A leap for student-led space innovation in the UAE.
Dubai: BITS Pilani Dubai Campus (BPDC) has reached a major milestone with its student-led satellite project, MAHASAT, by successfully completing the Engineering Model phase. This achievement marks a critical step toward building the flight-ready version of one of the UAE’s pioneering student CubeSat initiatives.
Launched in 2023 in collaboration with Edutech4Space, MAHASAT is a 1U CubeSat designed entirely by BPDC students under faculty supervision, including lead mentor Prof. Raja Muthalagu. The Engineering Model (EM) integrates essential satellite subsystems—such as the On-Board Computer, Electrical Power System, antenna deployment, solar panels, and Attitude Determination and Control System—into a functioning prototype.
The team also built solar and tumbling simulators to better understand real-world satellite operations. Through hands-on work with hardware and coding, students tested subsystem performance, image processing, and power efficiency. Using Software Defined Radio, they practised satellite-to-ground communication protocols.
The VHF-UHF ground station on campus further enriched learning by enabling live tracking of real satellites, deepening students’ grasp of telemetry and signal behaviour.
“This success showcases our commitment to interdisciplinary, real-world education,” said Prof. Souri Banerjee, BPDC Director. Dr. Shrisudha Viswanathan, Founder of Edutech4Space, highlighted the visionary mentorship of Dr. Mylswamy Annadurai as instrumental to the project’s progress.
MAHASAT now advances into Phase-4: environmental testing and flight model preparation. As the project evolves, it stands as a beacon of student innovation in the UAE’s expanding space sector.
