Hyderabad, Jan. 9 -- Maria Montessori's concept of "scientific pedagogy" has reached an extraordinary milestone - beyond the classroom and into space. On January 12 at 10:17 am, as Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) PSLV-C62 will lift off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, carrying a CubeSat payload conceived, engineered and built entirely by a team of 17 middle-school students from Hyderabad.

This marks the first time in India that schoolchildren have independently engineered, coded, and assembled a flight-ready satellite. While CubeSats are typically the domain of universities and startups, this student-led mission breaks new ground in STEM education.

Speaking to press persons at the MediaPl...