Bengaluru-based startup to launch India’s largest private satellite in 2026

The 160-kg satellite has secured a launch slot and will lift off aboard a SpaceX mission. (Image credit: @GalaxEye/X)

A Bengaluru-based space technology startup, GalaxEye, is poised to achieve a significant milestone for India’s private space industry with the planned launch of its first commercial satellite, ‘Drishti’, in the first quarter of 2026. The satellite will be the largest of its kind to be built by a private Indian company.

According to a report from TOI, the 160-kg satellite has secured a launch slot and will lift off aboard a SpaceX mission. The development marks a bold step for the domestic private sector into the domain of advanced orbital infrastructure.

GalaxEye’s flagship technology, a proprietary system named “SyncFused OptoSAR”, is at the heart of the mission. The company claims this is the world’s first imaging platform capable of synchronously fusing optical and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data.

This multi-sensor fusion allows for advanced geospatial analysis unaffected by weather or lighting conditions, as SAR can penetrate cloud cover and operate in darkness.

Suyash Singh, co-founder and CEO of GalaxEye, affirmed the company’s readiness, stating to TOI, “This is the right time to go to space.” He emphasised that the 1.5-metre resolution imagery provided by Drishti “is going to unlock a lot of new use cases” across a diverse range of sectors.

The satellite, which is roughly one cubic metre in size and features a deployable three-and-a-half-metre antenna, is designed for a wide array of applications.

These include border surveillance, disaster management, defence, utilities and infrastructure monitoring, agricultural assessment and financial and insurance sector evaluations. It will offer a global revisit time of between seven and ten days, providing frequent and up-to-date insights.

The technology underpinning the Drishti mission has been rigorously validated. GalaxEye reportedly conducted extensive testing through approximately 500 aerial flights using drones, Cessna aircraft and high-altitude platforms.

The company has also previously launched a payload on the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) PSLV under its POEM (PSLV Orbital Experimental Module) mission, demonstrating its capabilities in a space environment.

The startup is now in advanced discussions with various government ministries, including defence and agriculture, to leverage the satellite’s unique data capabilities.