Pixxel-led group wins India’s first private national EO satellite project

Pixxel-led group wins India’s first private national EO satellite project

Recently, Bengaluru-based space tech company Pixxel formalised its agreement with the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) to build India’s Rs 1,200 crore national Earth Observation (EO) constellation.The project will be executed under a public-private partnership framework.It is the first time a private consortium will own and operate a national EO satellite system for India.An Earth Observation (EO) constellation is a coordinated group of satellites placed in specific orbits to continuously monitor the Earth’s surface, oceans, and atmosphere and collect data for scientific, economic, environmental, and security purposes.

Key Features of the Project

¨     Pixxel will lead a consortium of four Indian space companies.

¨     The Pixxel-led consortium includes Dhruva Space, PierSight and Satsure.

¨     The consortium will design, build, own and operate the satellite constellation.

¨     The constellation will be deployed over a five-year period.

¨     A total of 12 satellites will be launched under the programme.

Satellite Capabilities

¨     The constellation will include very high-resolution optical imaging satellites.

¨     It will include multispectral imaging for land and vegetation analysis.

¨     Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites will enable all-weather and night-time observation.

¨     Hyperspectral satellites will allow detailed detection of surface and atmospheric features.

Consortium Composition

¨Pixxel will provide advanced imaging satellite technology and overall programme leadership.

¨     Dhruva Space will contribute satellite hardware and mission support capabilities.

¨     PierSight will support maritime-focused observation and operations.

¨     Satsure will provide analytics and value-added intelligence services.