India’s Pixxel is ready to launch three of its six hyperspectral imaging satellites aboard a SpaceX rocket from California on Tuesday, the primary such community within the nation’s nascent personal house sector, Pixxel’s chief instructed Reuters.
The satellites can be positioned in a sun-synchronous orbit at roughly 550 km, with the remaining three slated for deployment within the second quarter of the 12 months.
The launch is scheduled to happen on the Vandenberg Area Pressure Base at round 10:45 a.m. Pacific Time (1845 GMT) on Tuesday – simply after midnight the following day in India – topic to remaining approvals.
Pixxel’s founder and chief govt Awais Ahmed instructed Reuters that it plans so as to add 18 extra spacecraft to the six it has already developed, eyeing a share of the satellite tv for pc imaging market projected to succeed in $19 billion (roughly Rs.1,64,451 crore) by 2029.
The launch is a milestone for India’s nascent personal house sector and for Google-backed Pixxel, a five-year-old startup.
It goals to make use of hyperspectral imaging — a expertise that captures extremely detailed knowledge throughout tons of of sunshine bands — to serve industries similar to agriculture, mining, environmental monitoring, and defence.
The corporate says its satellites can ship insights to enhance crop yields, monitor sources, monitor oil spills and nation borders in significantly better particulars than present expertise permits.
“The satellite tv for pc imagery market as we speak is round $4.Three billion (roughly Rs. 37,219 crore), with evaluation including one other $14 billion (roughly Rs. 1,21,180 crore). By 2029, the market is projected to succeed in $19 billion (roughly Rs. 1,64,457 crore). Hyperspectral imaging, which is new, might realistically seize $500 million (roughly Rs. 4,327 crore) to $1 billion (roughly Rs. 8,676 crore) of this, plus extra income from evaluation,” Ahmed mentioned.
Ahmed mentioned Pixxel has signed up round 65 purchasers, together with Rio Tinto, British Petroleum, and India’s Ministry of Agriculture, with some already paying for knowledge from its demo satellites. Contracts are in place for future knowledge from the Firefly constellation.
“For defence-use circumstances, conversations are taking place predominantly within the US and India, and in different areas by resellers and companions. Often, authorities businesses need to see issues launched and dealing earlier than committing to procurement,” Ahmed, 27, mentioned.
Pixxel expects to make first contact with the satellites about two-and-a-half hours after launch, with full business imaging capabilities anticipated by mid-March.
Nevertheless, its growth plans face stiff competitors in a world satellite tv for pc market dominated by the US and China.
The US leads in business and authorities satellite tv for pc launches, pushed by personal corporations like SpaceX and authorities contracts, whereas China has emerged as a competitor with aggressive state-backed initiatives and a fast growth into low Earth orbit satellites.
India, regardless of its established spacefaring capabilities, holds solely a two % share of the worldwide business house market. The federal government is now banking on personal gamers to extend that share, aiming to develop the nation’s house sector from $Eight billion (roughly Rs. 69,258 crore) to $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,80,976 crore) by 2030.
Pixxel hopes to leapfrog these challenges with its Firefly constellation, which boasts a 5-meter decision and a 40-km swathe width—outperforming opponents similar to Finland’s Kuva Area and San Francisco-based Orbital Sidekick, whose satellites sometimes have decrease decision and narrower protection.
“If and as soon as their commissioning is profitable, they’re going to have extra imaging capability than ISRO within the hyperspectral band, which for the Indian business is a watershed second,” mentioned Narayan Prasad, chief operations officer at Netherlands-based house business market Satsearch.
© Thomson Reuters 2025
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