Let’s start by identifying the system for your project. A system is a collection of interconnected elements that fulfil a set of objectives. You may decide to build a satellite in which case, the satellite is your system. Whereas, if you are designing instruments that are to be part of a satellite or are to be mounted on stage 4 of PSLV, then these instruments are your system. In a vague sense, the system is defined by what your team and the organization as a whole, is focused on, for the particular project. For example, a team in ISRO which designs launch vehicles, consider the launch vehicle as the system and the satellite being launched are payloads, while another team in ISRO responsible for designing the satellite has satellite as the system. <br/><br/>

The first task at hand is to identify what is the focus of the organization - based on this, the team will choose a project. For example, the Student Satellite Program, IIT Bombay has the vision to convert IIT Bombay into Centre of Excellence in Space Science & Technology. Towards this vision, the team conceived, planned, designed and launched the first satellite, Pratham. Currently, in line with this vision, the team is working on several projects - ranging from designing of COTS subsystems for CubeSats, to design experiments that can be performed on the lunar surface. A detailed discussion on selecting a mission and a payload for a student satellite project can be found [[Planning the mission and finalizing the Payload |here]]. For each of the projects a system has to be defined. Along with the system, what lies outside the system is also defined along with how it interfaces with the system.<br/><br/>