Startups intend to build satellite assembly facilities
- ByStartupStory | November 28, 2022
With two indigenous firms aiming to construct satellite assembly facilities, Pixxel and Dhruva Space, space is poised to become the next frontier for Indian startups. While Hyderabad-based Dhruva Space claimed it is in the last phases of planning, with construction scheduled to start early next year, Bengaluru-based Pixxel is currently establishing a factory to assemble satellites. According to the corporation, Pixxel’s plant should be completed in the first part of next year. Others are also entering the market. Agnikul Cosmos, an IIT-Madras-incubated company, has acquired land in Chennai for its own test bed facility, while Bellatrix Aerospace and the Karnataka government have inked a memorandum of understanding to acquire land for the construction of a propulsion and thruster production plant.
Following the successful launch of both firms’ demonstration satellites on Saturday aboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) of the Indian Space Research Organization (Isro), Dhruva and Pixxel now has plans to launch future commercial space initiatives. The satellites Pixxel and Dhruva were successfully launched into their intended low-Earth orbits. India has big goals for the space industry, and one of those ideas includes satellite production. It is anticipated that local businesses will be able to capture a larger share of the global space market thanks to the government’s liberalized space policy, which is reportedly nearing completion. According to Jitendra Singh, the minister of state for science, technology, and earth sciences, India currently only accounts for 2% of the global space industry.
A rising number of domestic private space entrepreneurs, like Pixxel and Dhruva Space, are beginning the last stage of testing their goods and services. Skyroot Aerospace, based in Hyderabad, made history on November 18 when it launched its first rocket on its own. With greater engagement from these startups anticipated under India’s impending space policy, ISRO’s burden will be reduced while the domestic industry will grow. Pixxel’s CEO, Awais Ahmed, predicted that the new factory would create larger satellites. Anand, a prototype for a future satellite that Pixxel wants to produce, was the satellite that the PSLV launched. The final versions will be more complicated and hence larger and heavier than the demonstrator satellites, which are smaller and lighter.
“These small satellites are 15 kg in weight and work as demonstrators for the kind of high-resolution data and analytics that we can provide from our constellation. But, the final satellites that will be part of our constellation will be 50kg each, for which we would need a new facility — work on which will be completed by the first half of 2023,” Ahmed said. A total of 20 satellites will be launched by Pixxel at some point, and their image data will be used to investigate climate change, detect gas pipeline breaks, and for other objectives. According to Chaitanya Dora, chief financial officer, Dhruva’s Thybolt-1 and Thybolt-2 satellites, launched by Isro, were prototypes for the kind of spacecraft it may produce.
“We eventually plan to offer complete and indigenous manufacturing solutions for satellites, components, and ground stations to companies. We’ve already received our first commercial contract worth ₹20 crore to build satellites, which requires us to step up our abilities,” he said, adding the company has sufficient capital to execute the first stage of the project. It will likely raise a fresh round next year, he said.
However, both businesses intend to use their facilities to support early-stage international commercial contracts. The Telangana state government and global mining giant Rio Tinto, as well as Australian agri-tech company DataFarming, have awarded early-stage contracts to Pixxel, the company claimed. Dhruva withheld the names of his clients. Manufacturing facilities may require a significant initial outlay for space firms that are still in the early stages, according to a senior executive of a venture capital (VC) firm that has invested in startups in this area. “However, given that they would need to have the scale of satellite manufacturing if they are to attract global clients, such investments would be critical for the immediate future of these space businesses,” he said.
According to Pratip Mazumdar, founder and partner of early-stage venture capital firm Inflexor Ventures, which invested in Bellatrix Aerospace, an Indian startup in the space industry, now is the perfect time for space companies to make investments in the establishment of capital facilities. “Procedures of land acquisition take a long time, in terms of the processes involved. You have In-Space (the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center), the nodal enablement body for space under the union government, and Isro, supporting the sector,” he added.
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