New Delhi, 22 October 2026: Viasat Inc., a global leader in satellite communications, today announced the six finalists competing in the grand finals of the second annual Viasat: Space for Good India Challenge 2026. Organized in strategic partnership with the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe), the flagship STEM competition brings together exceptional university talent from across India. The grand finale of the Viasat: Space for Good India Challenge 2026 will take place in New Delhi on 27th October 2026.
From AI-powered orbital debris avoidance and satellite-enabled disaster warning networks to crop health monitoring from space and emergency communications platforms designed for natural disasters, the finalists’ concepts showcase the transformative potential of innovation and are among the solutions that will be evaluated during the upcoming Viasat: Space for Good India Challenge finals.
These six finalists are competing for a total prize pool of ₹11,50,000 (including ₹5,00,000 for first place, ₹3,75,000 for second, and ₹2,75,000 for third), alongside mentorship from Viasat industry experts.
More than a competition, Viasat: Space for Good demonstrates how connectivity becomes capability when paired with access to technology, mentorship and industry collaboration. Through the program, students gain opportunities to develop real-world solutions using the same satellite-enabled technologies that support governments, airlines, maritime operators and communities around the world. The result is a platform where ambitious ideas can evolve into practical innovations capable of creating lasting impact.
Following a rigorous, multi-month evaluation process, six student visionaries have been selected to present their concepts live in New Delhi before a panel of prominent space industry leaders, government representatives, and satellite technology experts. Their concepts demonstrate how the next-generation of innovators is already addressing some of India’s most pressing challenges while helping define the future of space-enabled services.
Connectivity meets capability
Now in its second year in India, Viasat: Space for Good demonstrates that connectivity is far more than a commodity. By providing students with hands-on tools, real-world space technology, and dedicated mentorship from Viasat engineers, the program reflects Viasat’s core mission: connecting the unconnected and solving critical global problems.
Gautam Sharma, Managing Director at Viasat Indiasaid, “India’s universities are producing extraordinary talent at a time when the nation is becoming a global force in technology, innovation, and space. Viasat: Space for Good is built on a simple belief: connectivity becomes capability when it is placed in the hands of people who are determined to solve meaningful problems. Through this program we are providing students access to technology, mentorship and real industry engagement, helping transform ideas into solutions that can improve lives. Just as importantly, we are bringing together universities, government organizations, industry partners and communities, because no single organization solves global challenges alone. These finalists are proving that the next generation of leaders in STEM and space innovation is already shaping India’s future today.”
As India accelerates its rise as a global technology and space innovation hub, the country is uniquely positioned to shape the next generation of STEM-led solutions. India’s higher education system now serves more than 43 million students, while the nation has emerged as one of the world’s largest producers of STEM talent. At the same time, India’s space economy is projected to grow from approximately $8.4 billion today to nearly $44 billion over the coming decade, creating unprecedented opportunities for students, researchers, entrepreneurs and innovators.
Meet the finalists: https://www.viasat.com/perspectives/corporate/2026/meet-six-finalists-competing-2026-viasat-space-for-good-india-challenge/
Here is a look at the six exceptional finalists and the visionary concepts they are bringing to the grand finale on Tuesday, October 27 in New Delhi:
Aryan Gupta
- Institution & Background: Pre-final year Mechanical Engineering student at IIT Roorkee (originally from New Delhi).
- Concept: Sentinel: A Secure-by-Design Framework for D2D IoT
- The Innovation: As millions of remote sensors go online across India to monitor everything from farm soil moisture to railway tracks and pipeline pressure where cell towers don’t reach, they increasingly talk directly to satellites. However, these devices often lack a way to verify if a satellite is legitimate or if their data has been tampered with. Sentinel introduces a lightweight, battery-efficient security layer that allows sensors to securely authenticate their identity and trust their satellite connection, ensuring that massive satellite IoT rollouts remain tamper-proof and reliable.
Adeetya Uppal
- Institution & Background: Fourth-year Aerospace Engineering Dual Degree (B.Tech + M.Tech) student at IIT Kharagpur (originally from Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra).
- Concept: DRISHTI: AI Guardian for Sustainable Orbits
- The Innovation: With tens of thousands of pieces of space debris orbiting Earth, traditional collision-warning protocols can take hours for human operators to react to, wasting valuable fuel and endangering operational satellites. DRISHTI uses artificial intelligence to autonomously monitor for dangerous debris, calculate the safest evasion trajectory, and transmit avoidance commands in real time over Viasat’s satellite network. Rooted in Adeetya’s research on autonomous spacecraft proximity operations, the system aims to keep orbital pathways safe for global communications, navigation, and disaster response.
Nived Krishna
- Institution & Background: PhD student in Computer Science at IIT Kharagpur (originating from Kodungallur, Kerala).
- Concept: MARK: Multi-Orbit Alert Relay Network
- The Innovation: During natural disasters like cyclones, floods, or earthquakes, India’s government emergency alerts can fail to reach remote Himalayan valleys, tribal forest belts, or coastal communities if local cell towers are knocked out or never existed. MARK creates a resilient second path by relaying emergency warnings via satellite—first to low-cost community receivers at panchayat offices and schools to trigger local sirens, and eventually straight to consumer phones. The goal ensures that a citizen in a signal-dead valley receives life-saving alerts at the exact same moment as someone in a major metro.
Parth Bhagwat Kharat
- Institution & Background: Third-year Computer Engineering student at Dr. D. Y. Patil Institute of Technology, Pune, and an AI/agentic engineering intern at SGRAMX.
- Concept: BhuKavach: Satellite Collapse Triage Layer
- The Innovation: Designed to sit quietly inside buildings for years, BhuKavach is an intelligent structural sensor that instantly detects a building collapse and transmits its exact GPS coordinates. It prioritizes local networks but seamlessly falls back to satellite connectivity when terrestrial infrastructure fails. By cutting through post-disaster chaos, the system provides first responders with immediate, precise triage data on where to search first, accelerating rescue efforts when every second counts.
Shashank Kumar Singh
- Institution & Background: PhD researcher in Biological Sciences and Engineering at IIT Gandhinagar (Computational Biology Laboratory), originally from Lucknow.
- Concept: ChronoSentinel: Plant’s Clock from Space
- The Innovation: Bridging satellite Earth observation and plant circadian biology, ChronoSentinel tracks the internal biological clocks of crops and forests from space. Because plants undergo subtle shifts in their internal rhythms long before visible signs of disease, drought, or environmental stress appear on the surface, this technology aims to give farmers and land managers an early warning system. The result could revolutionize precision agriculture and ecological monitoring by spotting distress signals before they become naked-eye visible.
Tanatswa Manjeya
- Institution & Background: Final-year Electrical and Electronics Engineering student at Aditya University (originally from Harare, Zimbabwe).
- Concept: Aegis
- The Innovation: When natural disasters wipe out power grids and cellular infrastructure, Aegis deploys rugged, solar-powered hardware pods (“Aegis-PODs”) to establish emergency Wi-Fi bubbles, letting stranded citizens send direct SOS messages via Viasat satellites. More than just a backup communication tool, Aegis acts as a regional “digital twin,” continuously analyzing environmental telemetry like soil moisture and bridge strain. This allows emergency managers to use AI to predict infrastructure failures—such as a dam or bridge collapse—and proactively map out safe evacuation routes ahead of impending destruction.
