Satellite made by Indian start-up tested at ISRO facility, awaiting launch on India's PSLV rocket

'Shakuntala', a satellite built in India by an Indian start-up Pixxel was recently launched into orbit by Elon Musk's SpaceX. This launch happened on a foreign rocket from foreign soil, and the spacecraft weighing all of 15kgs was designed, built in India and tested at various foreign facilities, amid the COVID-19 lockdown. However, the next spacecraft made by Pixxel, has already been tested at an ISRO facility and is awaiting to be launched on-board ISRO's PSLV rocket.

Notably, having tested the satellite at an ISRO lab was made possible as a part of the Space Sector Reforms that the Indian Government has rolled out since mid-2020. As a part of these reforms, Indian companies could seek ISRO's technical assistance while designing and developing rockets and satellites and also test their hardware at ISRO facilities for a nominal cost.

According to Awais Ahmed, CEO and Founder, Pixxel, their maiden satellite 'Shakuntala' made use of foreign facilities, whereas 'Anand' and other satellites that are in the pipeline are to be built and tested in India. "In terms of components, we are currently using 60pc Indian and 40pc foreign components. Our imports mainly consist the solar panels, batteries and reaction wheels. Anand(to be launched) was tested at ISRO's UR Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru and is awaiting launch from India's spaceport in Sriharikota. Testing it at ISRO facilities helps us save on costs and the burden of having to go abroad for testing or even setting up a test facility" he said.

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Pixxel's maiden satellite was to be launched on ISRO's PSLV rocket, but that did not materialize owing to the pandemic and the impact it had on India's launch activity. The possibility of launching on-board the SpaceX Transporter rideshare mission was then considered by the start-up. While Pixxel's next satellite is to be launched on-board ISRO's PSLV rocket.

However, a major factor that companies look into while launching their satellites are also the per Kg launch cost. While ISRO is understood to charge around $25,000 per Kg of payload on its PSLV rocket, SpaceX is understood to charge barely $5000 per Kg of payload on its Falcon 9 rocket. With India expected to launch a low-cost, easy-to-build, 500kg payload class Small Satellite Launch Vehicle(SSLV), it is expected that the per Kg launch cost would reduce to a certain extent, thus making it an attractive option for customers.

While SpaceX offers low cost per Kg, it is notable they don’t not often have rideshare missions to accommodate smaller satellites, even on a commercial basis. In comparison, ISRO managed to accommodate co-passenger satellites in almost of its PSLV launches. Having received $25 million in funding, Pixxel is confident that they would be able to launch their first constellation of 2 technology demonstrator and 6 fully commercial satellites, which comprise the first phase.

The start-up hopes to have a constellation of 20 Hyperspectral imaging satellites in orbit by early 2024. "With the kind of infrastructure and experience available in India in the space domain, a lot of global investors are looking towards India. The important part is for the space start-ups to sustain themselves by earning revenue from providing their services to customers" Awais added.

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