Indian Space Tech Startup Launches First Private Satellite Network With Google Backing
India-West News Desk
LOS ANGELES, CA – Indian space tech startup Pixxel has achieved a significant milestone with the successful launch of three out of six of its hyperspectral imaging satellites aboard a SpaceX rocket on January 14 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California’s Central Coast. This launch marks a major step in India’s expanding private space sector, with the satellites placed into a sun-synchronous orbit about 550 km above earth.
The satellites, equipped with advanced hyperspectral imaging technology, will serve industries such as agriculture, mining, environmental monitoring, and defense. This cutting-edge technology captures intricate data across numerous light bands, enabling detailed insights to enhance crop yields in India’s agriculture-driven economy, track resources, and monitor environmental disasters with far greater precision than current methods. The remaining three satellites are slated for deployment in the second quarter of 2025.
Pixxel, a five-year-old startup backed by Google, has already developed six spacecraft and plans to expand its fleet with an additional 18 satellites. The company aims to capture a portion of the global satellite imagery market, which is expected to reach $19 billion by 2029, with hyperspectral imaging potentially generating $500 million to $1 billion of that. The startup has secured 65 clients, including Rio Tinto, British Petroleum, and India’s Ministry of Agriculture, some of whom have already begun paying for data from Pixxel’s demo satellites.
The U.S. dominates the satellite launch market and now, India holds just a 2% share of the global commercial space market, despite its robust space capabilities. Pixxel’s ambitions aim to help boost India’s standing in the industry, particularly as the government sets its sights on growing the country’s space sector from $8 billion to $44 billion by 2030. Pixxel is confident in its technology, which offers superior resolution and coverage compared to global competitors. If successful, Pixxel’s Firefly constellation could offer more advanced imaging than even India’s national space agency, ISRO.
The launch also included a satellite from another Indian space company, Diganatara, reinforcing the growing presence of India in the commercial space market. With the ambitious plans of Pixxel and other emerging players, India’s private space sector is poised for substantial growth in the coming years. (with Reuters/ANI input)