When a group of young students and mentors from Assam Don Bosco University dared to dream of space, they were not merely chasing a technological milestone; they were asserting the right of India’s Northeast to imagine itself as a creator of advanced knowledge rather than a distant consumer of it. LACHIT-1, the student-built satellite conceived and developed through years of patient effort, collaboration and learning, stands as a testament to that aspiration. Named after Lachit Borphukan, the legendary Ahom general who defended Assam against overwhelming odds in the seventeenth century, the mission symbolised courage, resilience and the will to stand firm even when circumstances appear unfavourable.
The idea behind LACHIT-1 was rooted in the lived reality of the Northeast. This is a region where geography is breathtakingly beautiful but also unforgiving, where monsoon floods and landslides routinely disrupt roads, power supply and communication networks. The Northeast Indian region exists in a state of recurrent crisis with regard to telecommunications infrastructure and connectivity. The 2025 monsoon season exemplifies the devastating pattern: torrential rainfall triggered widespread flooding and landslides across Northeast states, affecting over 364,000 people in Assam alone, causing damage to more than 900 houses in Manipur and Mizoram, and completely disrupting both terrestrial communication networks and emergency response coordination.
These disasters follow predictable seasonal patterns driven by the region’s monsoon climatology and topography. The Northeast receives extreme precipitation—parts of Meghalaya rank among the world’s wettest regions—falling on mountainous terrain, dense forests, and river systems prone to rapid flooding and catastrophic landslides. This geographic setting creates perpetual challenges for terrestrial infrastructure: fibre optic cables are routinely washed away or damaged by floods and landslides; mobile towers are destroyed by landslides and water infiltration; power systems fail due to lightning, flooding, and weather-related damage; and conventional communication systems become unreliable precisely when most urgently needed.LACHIT-1 was designed as a modest yet powerful response to this chronic vulnerability. Its store-and-forward communication capability, operating through amateur radio frequencies, aimed to ensure that even when conventional networks collapse, short but vital messages could still be sent, stored in orbit and delivered later. In disasters, such delayed yet reliable communication can mean the difference between isolation and assistance.
What makes LACHIT-1 remarkable is not only its intended utility but the process by which it came into being. More than fifty students and faculty members from across eight northeastern states came together under the leadership of Assam Don Bosco University to design, assemble, test and prepare the satellite for launch. For many of these young participants, this was their first direct encounter with real space hardware, real mission timelines and real accountability. They learned systems engineering not from textbooks alone but from the hard discipline of integration, testing and review. They learned that space technology is unforgiving, that every connector, every line of code and every procedure matters.
The project was made possible through Dhruva Space’s ASTRA for Academia programme, which seeks to democratise access to space by enabling universities to undertake end-to-end satellite missions. Through this initiative, LACHIT-1 was integrated into the larger Polar Access mission, sharing launch infrastructure and benefiting from a space-qualified satellite platform. This partnership exposed students to the emerging ecosystem of India’s private space sector, where innovation, agility and collaboration increasingly complement the legacy strengths of national institutions.
Equally significant was the decision to align LACHIT-1 with the global amateur radio satellite community. By operating in internationally allocated VHF and UHF bands, the mission connected the Northeast not only to Indian radio enthusiasts but to a worldwide network of licensed operators who have, for decades, played a quiet yet critical role in emergency communication. Amateur radio has repeatedly proven its worth when cyclones, earthquakes and floods render modern networks useless. LACHIT-1 sought to place the Northeast firmly within this resilient, volunteer-driven global framework.
As ADBU’s Mission Director Prof. Vikramjit Kakati noted, the university began planning its space program in 2022 and has since “steadily expanded into satellite engineering, mission operations, and ground-station management” through sustained institutional commitment. This progression mirrors the development trajectory for institutional space capabilities globally, where universities transition from passive participants in research missions to active architects of complete flight systems.
The launch on 12-01-26, however, did not unfold as hoped. A failure in the launch vehicle prevented LACHIT-1 from achieving its intended orbit. For the students who had invested years of effort, anticipation and emotional energy, the moment was undoubtedly heartbreaking. Yet it is precisely here that the deeper lesson of LACHIT-1 emerges. The anomaly that caused the failure lay beyond the control of Assam Don Bosco University’s team. The satellite was ready, the students were prepared, and the knowledge gained was real and irreversible. In space exploration, even the most experienced agencies accept failure as an inherent part of progress. Rockets fail, missions are lost, but the learning endures.
History offers countless reminders that setbacks often precede breakthroughs. India’s own space programme is built on early failures that are now remembered as stepping stones rather than stains. For a university team attempting something unprecedented for their region, reaching the launchpad itself is a remarkable achievement. The processes mastered, the confidence gained and the institutional capacity created do not vanish with a failed launch. They remain embedded in the students, the faculty and the university’s infrastructure, ready to be applied again.
There is also a broader significance that cannot be erased by a single unsuccessful launch. LACHIT-1 has already altered perceptions. It has shown young people across the Northeast that space technology is not an unreachable domain reserved for distant centres, but something they can aspire to shape themselves. It has demonstrated to policymakers and institutions that regional universities can be partners in advanced technological missions. It has laid the groundwork for future initiatives, including more ambitious satellites dedicated to governance, disaster management and development.
In that sense, LACHIT-1 has already succeeded. It has sparked imagination, built competence and asserted presence. The courage lies not in pretending that failure did not occur, but in recognising that failure is not the end of the story. Lachit Borphukan himself faced moments of doubt and adversity, yet history remembers him for perseverance and resolve, not for the obstacles he encountered.
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For the young talents of Assam Don Bosco University, the message is clear: do not despair. Space is a realm that rewards patience and persistence. What you have built with your minds and hands cannot be taken away by a launch anomaly. The sky has not closed its doors; it has merely asked you to knock again. And when you do, you will do so wiser, stronger and more determined, carrying forward a dream that has already begun to change the way the Northeast looks at itself and its future among the stars.
