India’s private satellite startup GalaxEye Space Solutions Pvt Ltd, and the US-based satellite software provider Antaris will build the world’s first satellite with synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and optical sensors, said GalaxEye.
According to GalaxEye, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for this purpose has been signed along with two other Indian companies (Ananth Technologies and XDLINX Labs) with Antaris.
The four companies intend to solve a vexing legacy challenge for consumers of remote sensing data.
Typically, satellite constellation operators have deployed specialised satellites to capture specific types of data. Each image or data point is captured at a unique time from a unique location, making it difficult to correlate data from separate satellites.
The new multi-sensor satellite being developed under the MOU will capture for the first time in history both SAR data and optical data from the same satellite — improving the ability to correlate the data and its analytical utility.
The resulting datasets will have tremendous value for environmental, insurance, and defense applications.
The satellite is expected to be launched in Q4 2023.
Under the terms of the agreement, Antaris will provide the software as a service (SaaS) technology platform required to design, simulate, build and manage the earth observation satellite from GalaxEye and its onboard Drishti sensor.
Ananth Technologies will provide AIT (Assembly, Integration, and Test) services and manufacturing capabilities.
XDLINX Labs will be responsible for the design of the spacecraft bus and supply chain integration services.
“We are very excited to partner with Ananth, Antaris, and XDLINX,” said Suyash Singh, CEO of GalaxEye.
“We strongly believe that our combined expertise will result in a successful mission of GalaxEye’s satellite which will provide superior geospatial imagery to our customers. This is a unique startup collaboration in the space sector in India and will be further strengthened through support from ISRO and IN-SPACe. This MOU will be marked as the first milestone, Singh added.
