From Stony Brook to the Stars: Aditya Upadhyay ’25 Launches Call a Satellite

As a child, Aditya Upadhyay ’25 was always looking up, searching the night sky for stars and imagining what it might be like to reach them. Today, that curiosity has evolved into Oasis Orbital, the company he founded to build Call a Satellite, a live voice‑based system that allows people to speak directly with the International Space Station and other satellites using real‑time orbital data and voice AI.

Upadhyay debuted the program in Associate Professor of Media Arts Phillip Baldwin’s class, an experience he described as deeply meaningful. Since then, Call a Satellite grew into a full exhibit at Sacred Heart University’s Discovery Science Center and Planetarium, with plans to expand to museums, universities and schools nationwide and eventually around the world, including India, his native country.

SB Matters sat down with Upadhyay to talk about where the idea came from, how Stony Brook University shaped his path and what’s next for Oasis Orbital.

What was your time like at Stony Brook?

Coming to Stony Brook from Mumbai, India, was my first time living outside my home country, and those early months were a big adjustment. But living on campus all four years — moving through H Quad, Kelly, Roth and West Apartments — helped me find my footing. I got involved in a lot: the swimming club, sailing, the Undergraduate Student Government and serving as president of Hamilton Hall Council. I also joined clubs like computer science and economics, mostly just exploring and meeting people. I started out pretty shy, but getting involved pushed me out of my comfort zone, and I ended up building a great community.

How did you go from studying economics to building programs and getting into computer science?

Even though I studied economics, I spent a lot of time around friends in the computer science club, and being in that environment made me realize how much I enjoyed experimenting and building things. I’d start projects, pause them for exams, pick them back up again — but the real shift happened when I realized I didn’t have to wait for the “perfect moment” or a specific class to start creating. Stony Brook gave me the confidence to make my own path, learn the tools I needed and build something that actually mattered. After graduation, I finally had the time and focus to commit to something, and that’s when everything clicked: I could use coding and the skills I picked up along the way to turn an idea into a real product.

Did you have any mentors?

Professor Baldwin has been a really important mentor for me. His classes were always encouraging, and he pushed us to think beyond the usual STEM track — to be creative, to experiment, to “not be a bean counter,” as he liked to say. That mindset shaped how I approach building things today. Call a Satellite is very much in that spirit: a STEM project that’s interactive, imaginative and a little outside the box. His guidance made a big difference during my time at Stony Brook.

Why did you start Oasis Orbital? How did Call a Satellite come about?

The idea for Oasis Orbital began during my senior year at Stony Brook, when I was finishing my economics degree. I’ve always loved economics and finance, and studying them taught me to pay attention to emerging markets and new opportunities. At the same time, I’d always been fascinated by space. I still remember seeing a meteor shower during my freshman year. As I learned more, I realized how quickly the space economy is growing. There are rockets launching constantly, thousands of satellites already in orbit and many more coming. We rely on satellites every day, but for most people they still feel abstract and distant. I wanted to make that world more accessible and personal, almost as natural as making a phone call. That’s how the idea for Oasis Orbital came together — a way to blend my interests in economics, technology and space into something interactive and meaningful.

Call a Satellite was the first major product I developed. The goal was simple: allow anyone to ask a satellite a question and receive a real, spoken response backed by live orbital data. You can ask where it is, how fast it’s moving, how far it’s traveling, and the answer changes every second because satellites’ positions are constantly changing. I built everything myself, iterating over and over, reaching out to museums and hearing a lot of ‘nos’ along the way. But I kept going, kept improving the product, and eventually it started to take off. I secured the project’s first museum deployment and am now in conversations regarding a second. It’s still just me building, marketing, doing everything, but I believe it will keep growing.

What was it like coming back to Stony Brook to debut Call a Satellite? What has the response been to the program?

Coming back to Stony Brook to demo Call a Satellite felt like a full‑circle moment. I’d been a TA in Professor Baldwin’s class, so returning with something I built myself was surreal in the best way. He immediately said his students would love it. They asked questions, tried it out and really engaged with the idea — everything from how it works to how I built it. Hearing their excitement, and even being told I had “tenacity,” meant a lot. It felt like coming home and being able to add value to a place that shaped me.

The response since then has been just as encouraging. After that classroom demo, I landed a pilot at Sacred Heart University’s Discovery Science Center and Planetarium. During the exhibit, visitors asked more than 900 questions. Kids really loved the idea of talking to a satellite and getting real‑time answers. Seeing that level of curiosity and enthusiasm made me feel like Oasis Orbital’s mission to make space more accessible is really working. 

What’s next for Oasis Orbital and Call a Satellite?

In the short term, I’m focused on expanding Call a Satellite into more places, including museums, planetariums, science centers, universities and K-12 classrooms. I’m already in conversations with additional museums, and I’m exploring opportunities in the U.S. and abroad. Making space infrastructure accessible to people everywhere is the immediate goal, and expanding globally is the next step I’m working toward.

Beyond Call a Satellite, I want Oasis Orbital to keep exploring how emerging technologies can make space more accessible and useful to people. The products may evolve over time, but that broader mission is what excites me the most.

What piece of advice do you have for Stony Brook students?

Don’t wait until you feel perfectly qualified to start something. Whether it’s building a product, writing, coding or anything else, the university is the best place to experiment. Walk into a professor’s office; show your friends what you’re working on; try things out; take action now. That mindset changed my life. I didn’t wait for opportunities; I created them. And I really believe any student can do the same if they just start.

– Christine McGrath