India’s Cosmic Leap Puts Space Startups in Focus
By Sanjana Gupta ·
On December 30, 2024, as ISRO’s PSLV C60 rocket roared to life at Sriharikota, Divya Kothamasu stood quietly near the launch site, her young daughter holding her hand. The rocket carried a payload small in size but huge in significance—a UHF communication module (SwetchaSAT-V0) built by Kothamasu’s startup, N Space Tech.
It was their first hardware to reach orbit, built on a bootstrap budget, supported by a 35-member team, and fuelled by the sheer belief that India could, and should, lead in indigenous aerospace.
“Earlier, I’d taken my daughter to a launch when she was still a baby, about three months old,” Kothamasu recalls. “In fact, I was pregnant when we had the first test launch of a high-altitude balloon,” she says.
Today, Kothamasu is part of a group of founders catalysing a quiet but impactful shift in India’s space tech landscape, each contributing through their own missions.
The N Space Story
Launched in 2020 from Andhra Pradesh, N Space Tech began with ambitions in cube satellites (or CubeSats) with Kothamasu as the founder and director. But by 2022, it had repositioned itself into RF subsystems for aerospace and defence, solving for indigenous design of amplifiers, front-end modules, antennas and more.
After the startup’s ‘LakshyaSat-I’ launch on 15 March 2022 in partnership with UK-based B2Space, it launched the ‘LakshyaSat-II’ payload successfully on Skyroot Aerospace’s Vikram-S rocket. The Vikram-S launch was the first private rocket launch in India, which took place under ‘Mission PRARAMBH’ on 18 November 2022.
Kothamasu is also among a growing number of women leading deep-tech ventures in India, joined by figures like Madhumita Chakravarti, her R&D head, a former director of CMSDS (Centre for Millimeterwave Semiconductor Devices and Systems) and a DRDO veteran.
However, women continue to be underrepresented. Speaking to AIM, Chakravarti says that though there are more women entering engineering, very few continue to pursue serious professions. “The challenge is that many women leave the engineering field after graduation due to societal expectations around marriage and family.”
Kothamasu’s approach was to lead by example. She brought her daughter to launches and built a workplace where talent, not gender, defines growth. Today, their tech supports missions for ISRO, DRDO, and BDL.
The shift wasn’t smooth.
“Some extended family members advised against entering such a ‘difficult field’ when there were other options. I do not want to name those other fields because, to me, all the fields are equally important. But this is the field that I’m passionate about.”
What sustained her? Immediate family support and the conviction that India’s space sector was about to open up.
And open up it did!
The ISRO Effect and Rise of the Private
Back in 1962, when India’s space program had just been launched, rockets had to be carried to launch sites on bicycles and bullock carts. Looking at the progress of AI autonomous landings and world records achieved by India, the space program seems to have really taken off.
Until 2020, India’s space narrative was state-driven, led by ISRO. However, after 2020, with the formation of IN-SPACe, new policies, and vocal support from the PMO, a startup-led ecosystem emerged.
“India realised that despite being one of the top five global spacefaring nations, we had less than 2% of the global commercial market share. That was because only ISRO was doing it,” Yashas Karanam, co-founder and COO at Bellatrix Aerospace, told AIM.
But with time, ISRO began opening its launch pads, ground stations, and facilities to private players, offering everything from mentorship to payload integration support.
“During the final integration stage of the SpaDeX mission at ISRO, we encountered some data shortage issues,” says Kothamasu. “We couldn’t comprehend the problem. However, with the support of ISRO, my team resolved it within a week and received cooperation until the very end.”
Earth in Hyperspectral Detail
In Bengaluru, Pixxel is assembling one of the most ambitious hyperspectral satellite constellations in the world. Its satellites aim to capture data in over 150 bands across the electromagnetic spectrum, enabling the detection of crop stress, methane leaks, illegal mining, and pollution—insights invisible to traditional imaging.
“What I can do with hyperspectral imaging is identify if there is a certain amount of chlorophyll or carotenoid content, or check the soil characteristics. We basically look at what the Earth is made up of on its surface,” expressed Kshitij Khandelwal, co-founder and CTO at Pixxel, in his interview with AIM last year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvDCSt92vOg
“Back in college, we made use of the library to recruit people.” Pixxel now operates out of a cutting-edge facility that can assemble and test 20 satellites simultaneously. It manufactures flight-ready spacecraft in-house, something that would’ve been inconceivable for a startup just five years ago.
“This is the first private assembly integration testing facility for the assembly of satellites with a quick turnaround time. We have an ISO 7 and an ISO 8 clean room,” says Khandelwal.
But Pixxel isn’t stopping at satellites. It’s building an end-to-end Earth observation stack. With clients across agriculture, climate, and oil & gas, Pixxel has positioned itself at the intersection of space and sustainability.
“All our images are downlinked from the satellite to the ground station... they can be moved either to our analytics platform where you can do further analysis, or even in certain cases directly sent to the customers.”
Keeping Watch Over the Oceans
Meanwhile, in Pune, PierSight has its gaze fixed on the oceans, quite literally.
Founded by former ISRO and National Instruments scientists Gaurav Seth and Vinit Bansal, the company is building a low-cost SAR satellite constellation dedicated to maritime domain awareness.
“Most SAR satellites today are built for high-resolution imaging over borders,” says Seth in an exclusive interaction with AIM. “But the oceans? They’re different. You need wide-area scans, 24/7 coverage, and SAR that can see through clouds and night.”
Their Varuna mission de-risked SAR subsystems using both a CubeSat platform and a drone twin for image testing. It was successful on multiple fronts, like technical validation, team execution, and securing funding.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pc6R5P5jLk
PierSight’s environmental focus is striking. It works with the Indian and US Coast Guards, Global Fishing Watch, and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 14 initiatives to track illegal fishing, oil spills, and ship emissions. “Every one in five fish is illegally caught. That’s staggering,” says Bansal. “We’re trying to change that with our AI-driven detection system.”
They also ensure their satellites use green propellants, de-orbit responsibly, and reuse electronics internally, committing to sustainable space tech.
The Dream of Data Centres in Space
In Hyderabad, TakeMe2Space is preparing to launch a dedicated AI lab in space, something no Indian company has done before. Backed by ₹5.5 crore in pre-seed funding, the company is working on high-altitude platforms to run edge-compute AI experiments.
Founder Ronak Kumar Samantray wants the company to sit at the crossroads of space-based computing, AI, and education. Their balloon-based launches have already tested modules for global universities and are changing the way people interact with satellites.
“We want to make space accessible, not just to governments and corporates, but to students, developers, and ultimately, all,” he told AIM in an exclusive interaction in February this year.
TakeMe2Space’s long game? Enabling India to build, test, and deploy AI models in space, in real-time. “We’re not here to be another Earth observation company,” says Samantray. “We want to build data centres in orbit where AI and computing happen in space, not on Earth.”
Green Propelling India
Back in Bengaluru, Bellatrix Aerospace is tackling propulsion, one of the hardest and most overlooked aspects of space engineering. Known for its electric propulsion systems, Bellatrix is building green, efficient engines that could soon power small satellite constellations globally.
Instead of heading abroad, some of India’s best propulsion engineers are staying back. “There are really exciting challenges to solve, and in terms of the trade-off, people went abroad because of better projects and financial incentives. But if you are paid well here, you could visit those countries while still building in India,” Karanam told AIM in a recent interview.
Their hall-effect thrusters, once thought to be beyond Indian capabilities, are now flight-tested and in demand. The startup recently also announced plans for expansion to the US.
Making India Geospatially Intelligent
While rockets and satellites steal the show, GalaxEye Space is revolutionising what happens after lift-off.
Co-founded by Suyash Singh, this Bengaluru-based space startup is tackling a fundamental flaw in Earth observation, which is inconsistency. “Optical sensors struggle with clouds and night-time imaging, while SAR data, though powerful, is often hard to interpret on its own,” Singh told AIM.
GalaxEye’s fusion-sensor technology combines both synchronising SAR and optical data “at the pixel level” for consistent, high-quality imaging in any condition.
Their Drishti satellite uses this “SyncFused” approach to provide reliable data for defence, agriculture, aquaculture, and disaster response, sectors that currently suffer from “fragmented or delayed imaging”.
Singh believes this innovation is about more than just better pictures. “We’re making satellite data reliable, not just available.”
He further expressed that building a multi-sensor satellite is not just about putting two cameras in space, noting the challenges of miniaturising tech without compromising performance. However, a phased approach, starting with drones and high-altitude platforms, helped de-risk the process.
With a team that blends ISRO and DRDO wisdom with IIT-Madras agility, GalaxEye aims to “position India as a leader in geospatial intelligence”.
Common Challenges Emerge
Challenges and failures come with the journey for any startup, but especially for space startups that rely on other launchpads for their satellites, this difficulty only increases. The recent ISRO PSLV-C62 launch failure reiterated thispoint.
Even though their payloads disappeared into thin air, startups like TakeMe2Space, Dhruva Space, and OrbitAID surged through. While they were eager to demonstrate a proof of concept for space technologies that had taken years to develop, and the launch was meant to mark a milestone, it didn’t happen. Regardless, the ecosystem surrounding this tragedy continued unabated.
Across all space startups, three common challenges emerge.
First, there’s the ongoing struggle to find skilled manpower. Everyone from Kothamasu at N Space Tech to the team at PierSight finds it difficult to hire RF engineers, system integrators, and signal processing experts.
“The biggest challenge was infrastructure and skilled people,” Kothamasu says. “You need spectrum analysers, thermal vacuum chambers, and the talent to use them. And in RF, the talent gap is real since most engineers go to IT.”
While talent trained at ISRO offers some support, it’s a small and finite pool. Organisations like IN-SPACe have conducted training sessions to help bridge the gap, but it’s a long road ahead.
Second, import dependencies remain a challenge. Semiconductor components, crucial for most space hardware, still need to be imported.
Despite government exemptions, these parts often attract customs duties due to delays in policy implementation. “Even now, I pay duties just to avoid delays,” says PierSight’s Bansal. “Time is our biggest currency.”
Lastly, there’s the challenge of convincing vendors. With low initial order volumes, many startups find it difficult to get manufacturers to customise or prioritise their needs. “We had to pitch to our vendors like we pitch to VCs,” Seth of PierSight laughed.
Yet, despite all this, the founders press on, driven by belief, the momentum of new policies, and a deep, shared commitment to building something larger than themselves.
What Does the ISRO Chairperson Say?
To achieve self-reliance in the space sector, India must significantly cut its imports of electronic components, newly appointed ISRO chairperson V Narayanan says, expressing concern over India’s continued dependency on imported goods.
The chairperson noted that 90% of the components in ISRO’s launch vehicles are indigenous. The remaining 10% are imported, most of which are electronics. “At least in the next five years, the import of electronic components in our country should come down drastically,” Narayanan asserted.
He made this remark while speaking at the Nano Electronics Roadshow 2025 hosted by the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) in Bengaluru last month.
Not only did Narayanan recognise India’s leadership in space innovation, but former ISRO chairperson S Somanath also highlighted this fact. He identified Bengaluru’s potential as the global space hub, yet noted that the city is still developing a completely integrated communication satellite.
“There are small satellite-building companies, but I hope to see a four-tonne or six-tonne class communication satellite built by an Indian company and launched from Bengaluru,” he said during the panel discussion on ‘Future of Commercial Space’ at the Invest Karnataka 2025 event.
Collaboration, Not Competition
Despite their varied missions, hyperspectral imaging, SAR, propulsion and AI, these startups don’t compete as much as complement each other. Founders often share their learnings, vendors, and even interns!
This private-private partnership might just be India’s biggest competitive edge. This spirit of public-private partnership has enabled an ecosystem where Skyroot could build private launch vehicles, Bellatrix could lead in electric propulsion, Pixxel could construct hyperspectral satellites, and PierSight could launch the first Indian maritime-focused SAR constellation.
The rocket no longer needs to be ISRO’s alone, and this isn’t just a long road to accelerating the space sector but also helping India enter the global ecosystem.