Bengaluru headquartered space technology startup will send remote-sensing satellite on the ISRO PSLV rocket in early 2021
Bengaluru, NFAPost: Pixxel, India’s first private satellite-imaging company, has entered into an agreement with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), a Goverment of India company under the Department of Space, to launch Pixxel’s first remote-sensing satellite on an ISRO PSLV rocket in early 2021.
The agreement is one of its kind after the establishment of IN-SPACe, the authorisation and regulatory body under the Department of Space (DOS) for enabling private players to undertake space activities in India.
The DOS and Pixxel will work in collaboration to enhance utilization and maximise the benefits of space assets for India. This first-of-a-kind private earth-observation mission will help provide solutions to many pressing environmental and agricultural issues among others and help make the world a better and more sustainable place.
Bengaluru headquartered space technology startup Pixxel is building constellations of high-resolution earth imaging satellites to provide global imagery at a daily frequency to customers in a wide range of industries worldwide.
Recently, Pixxel was the only Asian participant selected to be a part of the Techstars Starburst Space Accelerator, a first of its kind space focused accelerator where the company worked with space industry stalwarts such as NASA JPL, US Air Force, Lockheed Martin and Maxar among others. Pixxel’s first two satellites are slated to launch in 2021 with the constellation to follow in 2022.
Commenting on the development, Department of Science Secretary K. Sivan said the DoS is happy to have one of India’s leading private space startups, Pixxel onboard with this mission.
“We realise the potential that Pixxel’s earth imaging satellites have to solve some pressing issues of our time and we are looking forward to a positive outcome from this launch. With the establishment of IN-SPACe we will also be partnering with other private players, that can help India achieve more milestones in the future,” said K Sivan.
Commenting on the partnership, Pixxel CEO Awais Ahmed said the company is very excited to initiate this ambitious journey in association with NSIL/ ISRO.
“We are elated with the fact that India’s first commercial private satellite will now launch on an Indian rocket. This is not only a proud moment for us as an organisation but also as citizens to work with our nation’s capabilities. Many thanks to the Indian government for opening up access to our country’s space infrastructure to the private sector,” said Awais Ahmed.
Pixxel is building a constellation of earth imaging small satellites that will provide global coverage every 24 hours once fully deployed. The satellites will collect high-throughput information-rich data that will be analysed using AI and ML models to help make organisations more efficient in a plethora of sectors ranging from agriculture to urban monitoring among others.
NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) is a Central Public Sector Enterprise of Government of India and commercial arm of ISRO. It was established on 6 March 2019 under the administrative control of Department of Space (DOS) and the Company Act 2013. The main objective of NSIL is to scale up industry participation in Indian space programmes.
