Creating Her Own Path to Space: Meet Divya Shankar

From helping to build India's first student pico-satellite to managing SpeQtral's satellite projects, Divya Shankar has built a career at the intersection of space and quantum technology.

Shortly after finishing high school, Divya Shankar walked into an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) facility in Bangalore with no appointment, no industry connections and one pressing question: what should she study if she wanted to work in space?

At the gate, a security guard let her inside assuming she was an engineering student arriving for one of ISRO’s student community project. At reception, Divya explained why she was really there and the receptionist was kind enough to connect her via telephone to an ISRO science engineer who told her that aerospace engineering was not the only route into the industry, and that studying electronics, computer science or mechanical engineering could all lead to a career in space.

"I had no knowledge of these different routes at the time," Divya recalls. "That conversation gave me the confidence to choose a subject I was interested in and trust that it could eventually lead me to work in space."

Divya enrolled into Bangalore’s Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology’s electronics and communications engineering course — a subject she was interested in and one that would eventually become her route into satellite engineering.

The encounter was remarkable not only because she had arrived without an appointment, but because space careers were unfamiliar territory in her family. Her father worked in the garment industry, her mother was a homemaker, and no one in their social circle worked in aerospace. As an only child growing up in a conservative family, Divya had no ready-made network to show her the way.

That unexpected conversation helped Divya create her own path - one that would take her from a student satellite programme in India to studying and working in Russia as well as time at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where she was part of a simulated Mars mission in the Utah desert.

An ambition sparked in the classroom

Divya's interest in space began years before her chance encounter with the science engineer at ISRO. At secondary school, there were textbooks on Kalpana Chawla, the first Indian woman in space.

"I was so inspired by her story," Divya says. "I thought, 'I want to become an astronaut.' I think many people in the space industry start with that dream. Somehow, even if we do not become astronauts, we find our way into the industry."

Outside the classroom, she joined astronomy clubs and attended stargazing camps. One particularly memorable night, while camping deep in a forest in the southwestern Indian state of Kerala, she saw for the first time the Milky Way.

Her interest soon became hands-on experience. While studying at the Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology, Divya joined a consortium of undergraduate students from seven colleges working on STUDSAT-1.

This 1U CubeSat, measuring approximately 10 centimetres on each side, was launched into space in 2010 onboard ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.

For Divya, it was an opportunity to move beyond learning about space and begin building for it.

"It was a very good learning experience, especially as an undergraduate," she says. "We came together to build a working satellite using commercial off-the-shelf components, integrate it and fly it in space."

A journey through Russia, MIT and Mars

Her experience on STUDSAT-1 helped Divya secure a full sponsorship for a master's degree in space science and technology at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, or Skoltech, in Moscow. The programme included two semesters at MIT, where she worked on satellite research and design projects.

Russia offered an environment steeped in space history. Cosmonauts regularly visited the university for talks, workshops and conferences, giving students direct access to people who had travelled beyond Earth.

"Space was deeply embedded in the culture," Divya says. "In India, children traditionally learn 'A for apple'. In a Russian children's book, I saw 'A for astronaut'. I was amazed."

One of her most unusual experiences during this period occurred not in orbit, but in the Utah desert. Divya served as commander of Crew 161 at the Mars Desert Research Station, where a small team spent two weeks living as analogue astronauts.

The crew lived together in a confined habitat, conducted research and wore simulated spacesuits when venturing outside. Communication with mission support took place through a dedicated radio setup, recreating some of the operational constraints of a mission to Mars.

After completing her master's degree, Divya remained in Russia for three years working as a satellite systems engineer. It was a technically valuable role, and she worked across satellite design, mission analysis and ground-station systems as part of an international team.

Over time, she began thinking about where she could continue growing. Within her immediate team, colleagues could communicate in English, but the language barrier was more pronounced beyond it.

Singapore offered an international space ecosystem where she could communicate more easily, while also feeling culturally closer to home. She says when she learnt about SpeQtral, the role offered another compelling reason to make the move: the chance to work where satellite engineering met quantum technology.

Where space meets quantum technology

Divya says what drew her to SpeQtral was the opportunity to bring together two frontier fields.

"For me, it was space and quantum technology coming together," she says. "My work focuses more on the space side, but our objective is ultimately to put quantum payloads in space. It is challenging, but it is also extremely interesting."

Her early work included operating SpooQy-1, a CubeSat that in 2019 demonstrated quantum entanglement generation in space. From the ground, Divya could communicate with the satellite, run experiments and receive the results.

"When the results show that an experiment has worked and demonstrate something the team has spent years trying to achieve, it is a very satisfying moment," she says.

Divya subsequently became deeply involved in SpeQtre, SpeQtral's satellite quantum communications mission developed with the United Kingdom's RAL Space and the National University of Singapore's (NUS) Centre for Quantum Technologies.

She began as a systems engineer working on the mission's optical ground segment, which included assessing potential sites in Singapore for an optical ground station. She inspected numerous building rooftops and spent two days on St John's Island evaluating sites there.

Selecting a site requires far more than finding an open rooftop. The team had to assess building vibration, the surrounding environment, sky brightness and whether the station clear line of sight to track satellites across the sky.

Divya later became project manager for SpeQtre, guiding the project through years of development before the satellite successfully launched in November 2025.

"I have spent much of my time at SpeQtral on the SpeQtre project," she says. "Seeing the satellite launch, and then seeing the team detect its signal from the ground, were incredibly rewarding moments. You are seeing the fruits of many years of work."

The mission has since established optical links with ground stations in Singapore and the United Kingdom - an important step towards its quantum communications objectives. Unlike conventional radio-frequency communications, an optical link uses a much narrower beam and requires highly accurate pointing from both the satellite and the ground station.

For Divya, establishing the link brought together the systems-engineering and project-management work that has defined much of her time at SpeQtral.

Bringing every part of a mission together

Divya is now a senior project manager at SpeQtral, a role spanning many aspects of a satellite space mission: planning, schedules, budgets, technical requirements, risk management, logistics and coordination with internal and external stakeholders.

Systems integration is key to the work that Divya and the team at SpeQtral are doing.

An external supplier, for example, may build the satellite bus but SpeQtral needs to then integrate it with the satellite’s payload.

There are also practical complexities that are less visible from the outside. Shipping a payload internationally requires customs clearances, export and import permits, temporary-export arrangements and close coordination among partners, suppliers and consultants.

"It is always a team effort," Divya says. "My systems-engineering background helps me understand the technical aspects, while my role as a project manager is to keep everyone aligned and make sure we deliver what we have promised."

The technology brought Divya to SpeQtral, but the team and culture have given her reasons to stay. Over seven years, she has progressed from space systems engineer to project manager and now senior project manager. She values the transparency of the start-up environment, the accessibility of colleagues across the organisation and the relatively few layers between a question and the person who can help answer it.

That support became especially meaningful in 2022, when personal and family circumstances led her to return to India. Rather than bringing her work at SpeQtral to an end, the team supported her move to India and enabled her to continue managing projects remotely.

"They were very open about it," Divya says. "That flexibility and support have meant a lot to me."

Opening more pathways into space

When Divya began exploring a career in space, ISRO appeared to be the only destination available to an aspiring space engineer in India. But space, by its very nature, is an international industry.

Technologies are also converging. Space technology is finding applications thanks to quantum communications, artificial intelligence and other emerging fields, creating roles that may not have existed when Divya first read about Kalpana Chawla in school.

Her advice to the next generation is simple: stay committed to what genuinely interests you, even if the route forward is not yet clear.

"Follow your passion," she says. "One thing leads to another, and doors open along the way. There will always be opportunities that you can grab and grow from. Stick to what you love doing."

Divya's own path was not laid out for her. She got to where she is today by pushing boundaries. The same way SpeQtral too, is pushing the boundaries of what is possible.