AYCI began with a simple idea and very little certainty. We were students with an interest in space, an ambitious goal, and no clear roadmap for how to get there. What we did have was curiosity, time, and a willingness to try.

The Path We Took

In its early stages, the organisation focused on building structure. Teams were formed across engineering, outreach and operations, bringing together students at different stages of their education, from high school through to postgraduate study. Work was distributed across time zones and cultures, with contributors joining from Australasia, India, Europe, the Middle East and North America. Learning how to collaborate at that scale became one of our first challenges, and one of our earliest lessons.

Central to our original vision was Auahitūroa, a proposed 1.5U CubeSat intended as both a technical project and an educational platform. Electrical and hardware subsystems were designed by the team, and we reached early milestones including a preliminary design review and engagement with external stakeholders such as EnduroSat, as we explored a viable path to launch. The mission aimed to bring space into the classroom by allowing students to design experiments, run them on orbit, and receive the results back on Earth.

As development progressed, the realities of the project became clearer. Building a physical hardware platform entirely remotely proved far more difficult than anticipated. Key systems often depended on a small number of individuals, and as students graduated, changed direction, or took on new commitments, those dependencies created fragility. Progress slowed, and momentum became harder to sustain.

Alongside the technical challenges, the organisation itself continued to grow. Managing a volunteer led team of highly driven students quickly became a significant undertaking. Many team members were balancing demanding study loads, work, and personal commitments, and coordinating across time zones often felt like a full-time responsibility.

Like many early stage initiatives, we encountered internal disagreements, shifting priorities, and competing ideas about direction.

The broader context did not help. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted education, limited access to resources, and created an increasingly difficult funding environment. Over time, AYCI moved through periods of activity and pause. We rebuilt the team more than once and explored opportunities to regain momentum, waiting for the right conditions to align. Despite best efforts, progress did not always take hold in the way we hoped.

Not every ambition reached completion. The satellite itself never took flight. But the journey was not without value.

Many of the students involved have since gone on to study and work at leading universities and organisations around the world. For many, AYCI offered a first experience of working on a complex, real-world problem, collaborating across disciplines, and learning what it takes to turn ambition into action. The organisation became a place where ideas were tested, assumptions were challenged, and lessons were learned early.

This page is not a record of outcomes alone, but of process. Of trying something difficult, learning where it broke down, and carrying those lessons forward. AYCI did not end where it began, but it left behind something meaningful in the people who took part.

What Comes Next?