SatSure, the Bengaluru-based space tech startup which recently raised $15-million funding, is firing all cylinders to launch four earth imaging satellites by 2025.
Satsure's satellites, each of which will be around 150 kg, is being made in Europe and will be launched from India, Prateep Basu, CEO of SatSure told Moneycontrol. Basu said that the satellite's assembly integration is taking place in the United Kingdom, and that the vendor ecosystem is spread between France, Germany and Italy.
The Bengaluru-based startup offers high resolution, optical and multispectral data that has applications in credit assessment for farmers, risk management, crop insurance and so on. SatSure's client currently includes entities such as Airport Authority of India, for whom, the startup, provides satellite data for airports perimeter monitoring.
The startup was founded in 2017, by former ISRO scientists Basu and Rashmit Singh Sukhmani, and Abhishek Raju to leverage satellite imagery and AI and deliver intelligence from space.
Why Europe, and not India
Satsure's satellites are being made in Europe, despite India having a robust supply chain for space systems (because of ISRO's activities). That is because, Basu, who earlier worked with ISRO, said that their is no supplier for the technology required for their satellite.
"For our satellites, the payload design is completely ours, but unfortunately, there are no manufacturers to be able to produce the grade of optics required for satellites," Basu said.
"ISRO's satellites on earth observation are on reflector-based system. However, we are building lens-based systems and there is no lens based supplier here in India," he said.
Other players in earth imaging segment
SatSure is not the only Indian space tech startup which has solutions in providing data based on satellite imagery. Startups like Bengaluru-based Pixxel and GalaxEye Space too have solutions in this space.
However, where they differ is in their specific offering. While SatSure's provides multispectral imagery data, Pixxel provides hyperspectral data. GalaxEye provides synthetic aperture radar (SAR) based data.
"The problem all of us are solving would require a combination of these offerings depending on who is the end user," Basu said while allaying notion of competition with these startups.
"From a problem-solving perspective, it is not possible for a Pixxel or a GalaxEye or a SatSure to launch all the varieties of sensors. So, just because we are launching one segment, if we are actually going solve the problem, we may have to use each other's data as well," he added.
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