The Indian space startup, GalaxEye, headquartered in Bengaluru has announced that their first multi-sensor Earth observation satellite “Drishti” will be launched soon through Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The latest news of Drishti was announced by Pranit Mehta, one of the five cofounders of GalaxEye in a recent interaction. According to recent reports, the satellite will be launched by mid-2025 and reach space by this time next year. Priti Mehta and others are the IIT Madras alumnus who incubated the startup during their college days.
According to Mehta, Drishti is a 159 kg high-resolution satellite developed indigenously. Along with the satellite, GalaxEye is planning to launch a satellite constellation of five satellites. Experts have confirmed that Drishti will make use of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Multi-Spectral Instrument (MSI) sensors. With the help of these technologies, the satellite will be efficient in capturing high-resolution images of the Earth. Furthermore, this satellite is also cost-efficient for about 50-60% when compared to other satellites. Apart from the financial aspect, Drishti provides better performance while considering use cases. Based on the current reports Drishti will be the first satellite among this group. Mehta noted that they are planning to launch Drishti by this time next year, making it effective for work. Pranit Mehta and other founders of GalaxEye, also aim to equip themselves as the prime data providers across the altitude. He also added that the ready-to-launch satellite will be first transported to the US.
The announcement also suggests that SpaceX was not GalaxEye’s first consideration. According to Mehta, they planned to work coordinating with ISRO spaceport. However, they had to face certain challenges due to timeline constraints. So, with such challenges and ongoing discussions, Mehta states that they finally confirmed to work with SpaceX. With this collaboration, GalaxEye has become the first startup to work with SpaceX in such a mission. He also added that this collaboration made a full circle for the team as they were the Asian Finalists in the 2019 SpaceX Hyperloop Competition.
GalaxEye has already made the news earlier this year with significant funding from the IT giant in India, Infosys. Although a minor stake. The startup gained Rs 17 crore from Infosys. Mehta addressed this partnership as a milestone in their strategic advancement. He shared that the onboarding of Infosys with them will help GalaxEye handle the massive amount of data that needs to be handled after the satellite reaches orbit. He also shares an opportunity to enhance the global market reach of the company by teaming up with Infosys. He said that the collaboration will aid them to develop downstream applications ideal for multiple companies by improving the satellite’s capacities. Furthermore, he added that a standalone satellite would not be sufficient to meet all their needs. So, GalaxEye plants to team up with other companies like Infosys to broaden their spectrum, and provide diverse insights.
In addition to Infosys, Galaxeye has also bagged several other funders. According to a report that came out a couple of months ago, the startup gained funding of $6.5 million from various giants. This investment included in the Series A funding round saw participation from companies like ideaForge, Rainmatter, Navam Capital, Faad Capital, and Anicut Capital. The GalaxEye team suggested that this whole funding was invested in the Drishti mission. However, the space startup that works with a goal of elaborating satellite imagery and making it more accessible has several other plans including scaling software applications.
