Indian Students Build Satellites for $700 vs $180K

While most childhood dreams of space exploration fade into corporate cubicles, two Indian college students are actually building satellites in their dorm rooms.

Snehadeep Kumar, 21, from West Bengal and Mohit Kumar Nayak from Bhubaneswar launched Nebula Space Organisation with a bold mission: build India's first gamma-ray detecting CubeSat without the astronomical price tag. Their secret weapon? A local metal shop in Bhubaneswar.

The space industry's pricing shocked them into action. A single aerospace-grade screw could cost up to $40 million rupees, and the aluminum alloy used in satellites typically runs $180,000 from official suppliers. Snehadeep discovered the exact same material, Aluminium 7075, sitting in a neighborhood metal shop for just 700 rupees.

"There's a monopoly in space manufacturing," Snehadeep explains. "We realized we could bypass it."

The journey started when Snehadeep's father handed him an encyclopedia in first grade and switched the TV to Discovery Channel. That spark never dimmed through science fairs, research projects, and eventually founding Aurora Academy Journal, a platform where high schoolers worldwide could publish scientific research alongside Nobel laureates.

But publishing papers wasn't enough. In October 2021, Nebula Space Organisation was born to tackle the bigger problem: making actual space technology affordable and accessible.

Snehadeep met Mohit in a college hostel washroom in 2022. Both shared an obsession with democratizing space research. While their initial team of 30 members dwindled to four as job security concerns took over, the core group stayed committed.

Their CubeSats are miniature satellites designed to detect gamma radiation, helping scientists understand black holes and cosmic explosions. India had never built one dedicated to this crucial research area.

The Ripple Effect

The team's innovation goes beyond just finding cheaper materials. They're building modular, plug-and-play satellites that work like Lego sets, controlled via smartphone apps. These CubeSats will provide real-time gamma radiation data and live camera feeds from orbit at a fraction of traditional costs.

By sourcing locally and using CNC machines for precision cutting, they're proving that space research doesn't require impossible budgets. Their approach opens doors for universities, small research teams, and developing nations to participate in space exploration without waiting for massive grants or corporate partnerships.

What started as one boy's encyclopedia-fueled dream is becoming a blueprint for affordable space technology. Every prototype they build chips away at the barriers keeping space research exclusive to wealthy nations and giant corporations.

The local metal shop in Bhubaneswar might not look like mission control, but it's launching the future of accessible space exploration.