Students at Croydon High School for Girls in London have designed and tested a tiny satellite that studies sunlight in Earth’s atmosphere.
The all-girls Astrogazers Club, led by physics teacher Arabi Karteepan, created a CubeSat, a small satellite about the size of a shoebox. This satellite can record how sunlight passes through the atmosphere, helping scientists understand our environment better.
After a year of hard work, the CubeSat was successfully tested on a special research plane at Cranfield University. The team collected real data from the satellite during this flight, proving their design works in real conditions. This success follows months of lab work, remote testing, and help from the Surrey Space Centre. They even installed sensors on their school roof to support the project.
Before this, the students launched two weather balloons that reached over 32,000 meters high. These balloons took pictures of Earth and collected weather data with support from the University of Bath. That project, called Mission Aspiration, prepared them for their current goal: sending their CubeSat into space with Mission Pegasus.
This project is more than just science. It’s a boost for girls interested in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math). It shows they can lead big tech projects and inspires others to dream big. The team’s work has caught the eye of teachers, space experts, and local leaders.
Next, the students hope to launch their CubeSat into low Earth orbit, making history as one of the first all-girls schools in the UK to send a satellite to space.
