The private consortium would invest more than Rs 1,200 crore over the next five years to launch a constellation of 12 state-of-the-art Earth Observation satellites equipped with panchromatic, multispectral, hyperspectral, and microwave SAR (synthetic aperture radar) sensors.
Giving a fresh impetus to private sector space industry in India, the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) has announced the selection of a PixxelSpace India-led consortium -- comprising Piersight Space, Satsure Analytics India, and Dhruva Space -- to design, build, and operate India's first fully indigenous commercial Earth Observation (EO) satellite under the public-private partnership (EO-PPP) model.
The private consortium would invest more than Rs 1,200 crore over the next five years to launch a constellation of 12 state-of-the-art EO satellites equipped with panchromatic, multispectral, hyperspectral, and microwave SAR (synthetic aperture radar) sensors.
"This initiative signals the coming of age of India's private space industry in the space sector.
"It demonstrates the capability and confidence of Indian companies to lead largescale, technologically advanced, and commercially viable space missions that serve both national and global markets," said Pawan Goenka, chairman, IN-SPACe.
"The EO-PPP model fosters an ecosystem where public and private capabilities reinforce each other to drive growth, innovation, and self-reliance," he added.
The project will enhance India's data sovereignty, reduce dependence on foreign imagery, and ensure that all satellites are manufactured domestically, launched on Indian rockets, and controlled from within the country.
The constellation will feature a mix of sub-metre very high-resolution, wide-swath multispectral, SAR, and hyperspectral satellites, enabling applications such as precision agriculture, water quality monitoring, land-use mapping, environmental compliance, disaster assessment, and infrastructure development.
"Together with our partners Dhruva Space, PierSight and SatSure, we look forward to building world-class space-tech capabilities that serve the whole planet from Indian soil.
"This is India's moment to lead the world in space-powered solutions," said Awais Ahmed, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Pixxel.
"This EO-PPP award reflects the nation's growing confidence in the capability of India's private spacetech sector to deliver strategic and commercially viable solutions.
"We look forward to meeting this challenge at scale, particularly with our upcoming 280,000 square feet (sq ft) state-of-the-art spacecraft manufacturing facility in Telangana, which will significantly expand our manufacturing and integration capacity.
"This will allow us to accelerate production, including our Solis+ Space-grade Solar Panels, which have been seeing strong traction in both domestic and international markets for their efficiency and reliability," said Sanjay Nekkanti, cofounder and CEO of Dhruva Space.
Under the PPP framework, the Government of India will provide strategic, technical, and policy support while the consortium will own and operate the EO system, including satellite manufacturing, launches from Indian soil, ground infrastructure, and commercialisation of data services.
"Our role is to deliver radar‑first, analysis‑ready products with low latency, so agencies and enterprises get alerts and evidence, not just raw data," said Gaurav Seth, cofounder and CEO, PierSight.
The selection follows a competitive bidding process.
Three consortia -- Astra Microwave Products Ltd, Hyderabad (with Bharat Electronics Ltd, Sisir Radar, and Spectragaze Systems), GalaxEye Space, Bengaluru (with CoreEL), and PixxelSpace India Pvt Ltd -- were shortlisted after rigorous technical evaluation.
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff
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