Navi Mumbai student wins Viasat space innovation challenge

Adeetya Uppal, an aerospace engineering student at IIT Kharagpur hailing from Navi Mumbai, emerged victorious in the Viasat: Space for Good India Challenge 2026. This STEM innovation competition, organized by Viasat in collaboration with the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe), recognized Uppal's project, DRISHTI: AI Guardian for Sustainable Orbits. The winning project secured Uppal a prize of Rs 5 lakh.

DRISHTI is designed to tackle the issue of space debris. It calculates satellite avoidance manoeuvres and transmits collision prevention commands through Viasat’s satellite network. By doing so, it significantly reduces the response time from hours to mere seconds. This advancement not only bolsters satellite safety but also safeguards the orbital infrastructure crucial for communication, navigation, and disaster response.

Securing the second position was Shashank Kumar Singh, a PhD researcher at IIT Gandhinagar. Aryan Gupta, a mechanical engineering student at IIT Roorkee, claimed the third place. These top three positions were determined from among six finalist projects.

While the winning entry focused on space debris and satellite safety, the other concepts tackled diverse issues. Some proposed solutions included disaster warnings, crop health monitoring, and emergency communications in times of disaster.