Pixxel-Led Consortium with partners Dhruva Space, PierSight, and SatSure Wins IN-SPACe Proposal to Build India’s National EO Constellation

‍Bengaluru, India, August 12, 2025 — Pixxel, a Bengaluru-based space technology company building the world's highest-resolution hyperspectral satellite constellation, today announced that a consortium it leads, along with partners Dhruva Space, PierSight and SatSure, has been selected by the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) to design, build, own, and operate a national Earth observation constellation under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) framework.

In a historic first for the country, a private Indian consortium will deliver the nation’s first Earth Observation Satellite System (EOSS) — a 12-satellite network to be developed over the next four to five years with an investment of more than ₹1,200 crores. The project will enhance India’s data sovereignty, reduce dependence on foreign imagery, and ensure that all satellites are manufactured domestically, launched on Indian rockets, and controlled from within the country.

The constellation will feature a mix of sub-metre very high-resolution, wide-swath multispectral, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), and hyperspectral satellites, enabling applications such as precision agriculture, water quality monitoring, land-use mapping, environmental compliance, disaster assessment, and infrastructure development. 

“Being the winning proposal to build India’s national EO constellation is a major milestone for Pixxel and our consortium members. We’re grateful to IN-SPACe and the Government of India for trusting our consortium with this historic mission. Together with our partners Dhruva Space, PierSight and SatSure, we look forward to building world-class space-tech capabilities that serve the whole planet from Indian soil. This is India’s moment to lead the world in space-powered solutions,” said Awais Ahmed, Founder and CEO of Pixxel.

Sanjay Nekkanti, Co-founder & CEO, Dhruva Space, comments, “The EO-PPP presents a tremendous opportunity to serve both India’s and the world’s growing Geospatial Intelligence needs. Each partner in this consortium brings complementary strengths, and together we represent the power of four teams working to truly democratise access to Space-based data. With Dhruva’s expertise in the full-stack across the Space, Launch and Ground segments, we are able to deliver complete, sovereign solutions. With one of India’s largest upcoming spacecraft manufacturing facilities, the timing is right to leverage this infrastructure to scale for national and global markets — doing so in the spirit of genuine partnership and innovation.”

⁠“SAR makes the constellation operational 24/7 in all weather conditions. Our role is to deliver radar‑first, analysis‑ready products with low latency, so agencies and enterprises get alerts and evidence, not just raw data,” said Gaurav Seth, Co‑founder & CEO, PierSight.

⁠“This PPP is about outcomes and execution speed. Our modular, software‑defined radar electronics and deployable‑antenna heritage let us iterate quickly and align to IN‑SPACe’s phased milestones,” said Vinit Bansal, Co‑founder & CTO, PierSight.

Prateep Basu, Co-founder & CEO, SatSure said, “We are excited to have received this opportunity from IN-SPACe in contributing to building India’s sovereign capabilities in the domain of satellite Earth observation and data intelligence. Together, with Pixxel Space, PierSight, and Dhruva Space, we have ensured that not only do we provide the most comprehensive solution for India’s domestic EO needs, but also usher in a new era of private sector collaboration to achieve the monumental vision that IN-SPACe set for the growth of the Indian private space industry. SatSure, with its subsidiary KaleidEO, will be contributing by commercializing its novel optical and multi-spectral payload that provides high coverage at sub-meter spatial resolution. I believe this is a milestone not just for India’s space story, but for how EO technology can deliver meaningful, measurable value to users across different industries.”

Together, the consortium will build and operate the complete ecosystem, from satellites and ground stations to value-added services and advanced analytics, serving customers in India and globally. Operated on a satellite-as-a-service model, the program will provide guaranteed national access to advanced EO data while leveraging private-sector agility to deliver it at scale.

About the Consortium 

Pixxel 

Pixxel is a space data company and spacecraft manufacturer redefining Earth observation with the world’s highest-resolution commercial hyperspectral imaging constellation. Its three Firefly satellites, launched in early 2025 into a 550 km sun-synchronous orbit, capture data across 135+ spectral bands at ~5-meter resolution, enabling industries such as agriculture, oil and gas, mining, and environmental monitoring to detect, track, and predict critical changes on Earth. The company also designs and manufactures advanced small satellites for a range of applications, and its in-house Earth Observation Studio, Aurora by Pixxel, makes hyperspectral data accessible, interpretable, and actionable for users worldwide. 

Dhruva Space
Dhruva Space is a Hyderabad-based space technology company (est. 2012) offering full-stack satellite engineering—including satellite platforms, launch deployers, and ground-station services—designed and built in India to enable end-to-end space missions.

SatSure
SatSure is a Bengaluru-based deep-tech startup that combines satellite remote sensing, big data analytics, and AI to deliver decision-intelligence solutions for agriculture, infrastructure, financial services, climate, and sustainability sectors.

PierSight
PierSight is an Indian space-tech startup building SAR and AIS satellite constellations to provide persistent, all-weather maritime monitoring—supporting use cases such as illegal fishing detection, oil spill response, shipping operations, and ocean surveillance.

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