15-Year-Old Colombian Girl Will Participate in the Construction of a Lunar Satellite in India

Maria de los Angeles Izquierdo, a 15-year-old student from Palmira, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, has been selected to participate in the ShakthiSAT 2026 Mission, which will take place in India. The mission will see young people from 108 countries participate in the design and construction of a nanosatellite. She is the only Colombian among the participants.

Maria de los Angeles began her journey in space sciences at the age of 12 through a program called Tecnovation Girls Colombia. She later became a global quarterfinalist in an application and participated in the She is Astronauta Virtual program, where she trained with NASA. She is currently a tenth-grader at the Maria Antonia Penagos Educational Institution, Megacolegio campus.

The mission is guided by the vision of empowering girls worldwide through space exploration. It aims to involve 12,000 girls from 108 nations, providing each country's 108 talented students with a transformative opportunity to discover their passion. The contest was organized by the Colombian Space Agency (AEC), and Maria de los Angeles emerged victorious after a year and a half of preparation.

During her training, she worked on satellite construction, software programming, analytics, and rockets and launches. She was selected from a pool of 100 Colombian girls, chosen based on their completion of all modules. This experience will be the first time for many of the participating girls to travel abroad, experience a new culture, and collaborate with peers from diverse backgrounds, including Africa, Europe, North America, Australia, and Latin America.

Pilar Zamora, president and founder of the AEC, revealed that India's prime minister and the founder of the lunar satellite mission will also participate in the event. Maria de los Angeles expressed her enthusiasm for using this opportunity to motivate young women, particularly girls, to break the existing gender gap in the field.