Dr Pawan Goenka, Chairman, IN-SPACe
| Photo Credit:
SUDHAKARA JAIN
This is the first time ever that Indian private sector will be building a satellite system of this size and complexity and INSPACE will support the endeavor to ensure India’s autonomy in critical technologies, Dr Pawan Goenka, Chairman, IN-SPACe , Department of Space, Government of India, said on Wednesday.
Speaking to businessline about the selection of a private sector consortium for the ambitious ₹1,200 crore programme of building India’s own earth observation satellites, Goenka said that while the winning consortium quoted a zero bid and does not expect any financial support from the government, the space promotion body will support them in other ways to launch and monetize this project.
“Under the PPP model, the government had offered to pay up to ₹350 crore for this project but the winning bidder did not want any money from the government,” he said.
A consortium led by Pixxel Space with partners Dhruva Space, PierSight, and SatSure on Tuesday have won IN-SPACe’s proposal to build India’s National EO constellation of satellites. The team will develop a 12-satellite network over the next four to five years in a bid to ensure that all satellites are manufactured domestically, launched on Indian rockets, and controlled from within the country.
Explaining the idea behind the programme, Goenka said that India imports a lot of geospatial data from foreign parties today. “While ISRO supports with a lot of the geospatial data needs it does not meet all the requirements and that is where private space players come in,” Goenka said. “The idea was to also have a commercial justification for the private players to have Indian constellation of satellites to meet data needs of both government as well as private sector.
No financing involved
While there is no financing involved, IN-SPACe will be offering the consortium technical support, especially around the technical review of payload, Goenka said.”The payload is the heart of it [the programme] and determines the sanctity of the data that comes out,” he added. “IN-SPACe will also work with various government departments, both central government and state government, to generate demand for data that will be coming out of this constellation,” he said.
While Pixxel has already launched its hyperspectral satellites, IN-SPACe authorities note that it is still a challenging exercise to integrate the optical lenses and the optical system (which includes the detectors) with the satellite system and the assembly of the whole system. “We have put a mandatory requirement to put a ground station or control stations in India, and the consortium also needs to put a ground station across the globe for the acquisition of the global data,” Rajeev Jyoti , Director, Technical Directorate IN-SPACe, Department of Space, Government of India, said.
Published on August 13, 2025
