Dhruva Space to launch first commercial satellite mission aboard Musk's SpaceX rocket

The SpaceX Falcon rocket on which the satellites are set to fly

Dhruva Space will launch its first commercial mission, LEAP-1, in the third quarter of this year aboard Elon Musk-owned SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, the Hyderabad-based start-up said on August 4.

The mission features payloads from Australian companies Akula Tech and Esper Satellites. LEAP-1 will host the payloads on Dhruva’s P-30 satellite platform, which was successfully tested aboard ISRO’s PSLV-C58 in January 2024.

The LEAP-1 satellite will carry Nexus-01 by Akula Tech which is an AI module designed for onboard data processing and real-time geospatial analytics.

It will also carry OTR-2 by Esper Satellites,  a hyperspectral imager to capture spectrally-rich Earth observation data.

The 13-year-old startup, co-founded by Sanjay Nekkanti, Krishna Teja Penamakuru, Abhay Egoor, and Chaitanya Dora Supureddy, makes satellite infrastructure/platforms that it claims can be launched from any rocket, equipped with any payload, and operated from ground stations anywhere in the world.

Dhruva Space has raised a total of $15 million from a clutch of investors, including Indian Angel Network Alpha Fund and Blue Ashva Capital.

The mission will also use Dhruva’s Ground Station-as-a-Service (GSaaS) and Integrated Space Operations & Command Suite (ISOCS) for real-time payload operations and data transmission, it said.

“Teaming up with our commercial partners in Australia creates remarkable opportunities for Indo-Australian Space business, which will, in turn, foster a long-term partnership," Dhruva Space CEO Sanjay Nekkanti said.

"We are also happy to share that our LEAP series of hosted payload missions continues to thrive, and we are observing traction from private Space players in India, Italy, France, and more."

This is the fourth mission for Esper Satellites, which says it has kept the cost of its satellite campaign under $1 million. The firm is developing a constellation of low-cost hyperspectral satellites.

Akula Tech aims to use the mission to gain flight heritage for five software products and plans to develop AI-enabled satellites built in Australia.