In January, India’s space tech sector got a reminder of how quickly months of engineering can come down to a few nervous minutes of liftoff. ISRO’s PSLV-C62 mission carrying multiple satellites encountered an anomaly, leaving startups to reckon with the risks of launch failure.
For startups like TakeMe2Space building commercial space businesses, such failures can affect more than a single mission. It can disrupt timelines, raise insurance costs, and force teams to rethink how they access orbit.
The Hyderabad-based startup lost its maiden MOI-1 satellite—a 6U CubeSat designed to perform edge computing and AI inferencing in orbit—before it could begin its work. Nine months later, it is preparing multiple launches, building a second-generation satellite platform, and setting up a satellite laboratory at a university near Sriharikota.
For TakeMe2Space Founder and CEO Ronak Kumar Samantray, the failure changed more than the company’s launch plans. It also changed how the startup approaches risk.
“I learned the hard way that I have to buy insurance for every launch,” Samantray tells AIM. “But good that I learned it pretty early in life.”
TakeMe2Space is now preparing MOI-1A, India’s first orbital computing satellite, for SpaceX’s Transporter-18 mission launching in October, while its MOI-1B satellite, which is a technology demonstrator for space-based storage and networked data processing, is scheduled for an Indian launch in November.
SpaceX’s Transporter-18 mission is the same one carrying Google’s prototype satellite for the first orbital test of Project Suncatcher.
The Launch Equation
The company’s next missions reflect a more deliberate launch strategy.
TakeMe2Space has now blocked two SpaceX launch slots for 2028 to demonstrate distributed orbital computing with two satellites on SpaceX Falcon 9. Samantray says booking early helped the company secure a better price.
The company’s launch strategy now spans Indian and international providers. Samantray says predictability and cost remain the biggest constraints in India. That can change with Skyroot’s Vikram-1 rocket expanding the existing capacity for commercial launches.
However, heavier missions will need larger rockets to make the economics work. Samantray also remarks that launch pricing varies significantly across rocket classes.
For medium-lift missions, he cited around $7,000 per kg for directly booked Falcon 9 launches. That price applies when customers book several years ahead, he said. Secondary-market Falcon 9 slots can cost considerably more, ranging from $12,000 to $16,000 per kg.
For smaller launch vehicles, this can go up to about $22,000 to $25,000 per kg.
He says India already offers comparable pricing in the medium-lift segment. The larger issue for satellite companies is the predictability of launch schedules.
Insurance is another challenge. Indian startups often struggle to find suitable launch coverage. For one upcoming mission, TakeMe2Space insured a satellite worth $700,000. The premium cost $40,000.
Third-party liability insurance is another expense. A private quote for one such policy would have cost the company another ₹60 lakh. “It’s especially when your business model is hedged around the fact that I need to minimise score first, it becomes impedance,” he remarks.
From One Satellite to a Network
The company is planning a major shift with its second-generation spacecraft. TakeMe2Space plans to launch a Gen-2 technology demonstration in June 2027. Two commercial Gen-2 satellites will follow in 2027, with two more planned for 2028.
“The two satellites that are going on, they don’t talk to each other,” Samantray says about the company’s first-generation spacecraft. “But all the Generation 2 satellites will have the capability to talk and exchange data with each other in orbit,” he adds, referring to the satellites using optical networking to exchange data between spacecraft.
The startup wants its satellites to function as connected computing infrastructure. The engineering work extends beyond putting GPUs into orbit. Samantray says the company must account for radiation, thermal conditions, and software reliability.
It is also developing a software layer that lets customers run AI applications on its spacecraft. The model changes how data moves between Earth and orbit.
The company says 23 customers have already signed up for its orbital computing and storage capacity. Much of that capacity has been pre-sold. The Gen-2 satellites will carry 10 compute units and 100 terabytes of storage each.
The approach targets Earth observation applications that can process data in orbit. It can reduce the need to send large datasets back to Earth for processing. TakeMe2Space has also joined the Cloud Native Geospatial Group, which includes Google and Planet Labs.
The Next Stop is 1,500 kg
TakeMe2Space is already looking beyond its Gen-2 spacecraft. The company is working towards a Gen-3 satellite, weighing around 1,500 kg for a potential 2029 launch.
Its planned scale would move TakeMe2Space towards larger terrestrial datasets. The company currently focuses on in-orbit inference and storage. The economics are also changing across generations. Samantray says Gen-2 reduces the combined launch and manufacturing cost by a factor of 10.
He expects each Gen-2 satellite to generate around $1 million in revenue.
The company is simultaneously extending the infrastructure built around its satellite business for educational purposes. It has supplied satellite subsystems and ground test equipment to Sri Venkateswara University in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh.
The equipment will support a Nano Satellite Lab where students will design, build, and test satellites. The university sits around 100 km by road from Sriharikota. The lab uses the same class of hardware TakeMe2Space uses for its orbital missions.
Meanwhile, TakeMe2Space expects three satellites to undergo assembly, integration, and testing in October. The company will then deliver them to customers for their payloads.
The sequence marks a significant change from January. TakeMe2Space went from losing its first orbital mission to preparing multiple spacecraft, securing future launch capacity, and building a networked satellite platform. Its next test will be whether that expanded architecture can turn orbital computing from a technology proposition into a repeatable commercial business.
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