Industry Odisha Bureau, May 13: Focused on advanced Earth observation satellites, GalaxEye – an Indian startup founded by IIT Madras Alumni – has reportedly not only developed ‘Drishti’ satellite, but has also successfully launched it.
While GalaxEye is deemed to be “India’s first ever private space ecosystem”, ‘Drishti’ is claimed to be “world’s first Opto-SAR (Optical + Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite” that was “deployed via SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle along with 45 total payloads from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California in USA, while it covers the entire Earth including equator and both poles.”
By achieving such a stupendous success and having touched the notable milestone, GalaxEye has now reportedly joined the names like Agnikul Cosmos, Skyroot (Vikram rocket), Bellatrix.
Sources informed that two technologies called ‘Optical Imaging’ and ‘Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)’ have been combined because: “If optical imaging fails due to bad weather, SAR acts as the backup and converts its data into clear optical-like images”.
Thus, ‘Drishti’ is claimed to be “the first satellite to house both systems together”.
So far the key benefits of ‘Drishti’ satellite are concerned, it is claimed to be capable of “all-weather and all-time Earth imaging”, “highly accurate Earth observation”, “useful for both civilian and military applications”, and last but not the least, it “provides four complete Earth images per day due to the Sun-Synchronous Low Earth Orbit (SSO/LEO) mechanics”.
