A team of bright young women from the Astrogazers Club at Croydon High School has taken a giant step, conducting the final test flight of their Mission Pegasus CubeSat prototype on 1 July 2025, aboard the FAAM research aircraft at Cranfield University. This remarkable achievement gets them one step closer to making history as the world's first all-girls school to design, construct, and eventually launch a satellite into space.
Educational Roots and Ambitious Vision Mission Pegasus took to the skies in January 2024, a spin-off of previous high-flying balloon missions under the Astrogazers brand. Led by physics teacher Mrs Arabi Karteepan, the winner of the Royal Astronomical Society's 2024 Education Award, the crew aims to shatter gender stereotypes in space science. The crew is comprised of students between the ages of 16–18, who've progressed through workshops at the Surrey Space Centre, installed rooftop arrays of sensors, and survived atmospheric testing to secure their payload for space.
Phase 2: Successful Live Flight Testing On 1 July, a staff member flew on the FAAM BAe-146 to flight-test the air-quality sensor and communication systems of the CubeSat. Data drawn from prototype and ground sensors compared with those from the aircraft, confirming payload performance in real-world conditions. The University of Bath's Professor Cathryn Mitchell welcomed the success: "This flight test is a major milestone … What was unthinkable is now becoming a reality."
Planning Ahead: Engineering and Rocket Preparations Having their design on track, the team proceeds to Phase 3, assembling the flight-ready satellite using space-grade materials, and then Phase 4, mounting a rocket to deliver their cargo to low Earth orbit, which is planned for 2026–27. They are making every effort to raise money and reaching out to industry and STEM communities for sponsorship.
History and Global Context This project is an extension of early woman-led high-altitude balloon tests in 2023, tracing the path of comparable projects like Ireland's EIRSAT‑1 CubeSat mission in 2023 and student-developed satellites across Europe. Croydon High is now set to break new educational trails: a school-led satellite mission aimed at promoting global STEAM enthusiasm among girls.
Impact and Community Reach In addition to technical success, Astrogazers is also transforming lives. Annabel Davies, headteacher, attributed them with their "dedication, talent and sheer ambition," regarding the mission as "a statement of what girls can do when encouraged to dream without limits." Scholars, mentors, educational patrons, the Royal Society, Surrey Space Centre, University of Bath, and FAAM, among them, have collectively funded the project.