Florida, United States

In a step forward for the Indian private space sector, SpaceX has launched an Earth-Imaging satellite assembled and tested in India, by a Tata Group firm. The ‘TSAT-1A’ satellite was launched on the Bandwagon-1 mission, which SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launched from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, United States, at 23:16 UTC on April 7.

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A collaborative effort between India’s Tata Advanced System Limited (TASL) and foreign firm Satellogic, the TSAT-1A has been assembled at the Tata group’s Assembly, Integration and Testing (AIT) facility at Vemagal, Karnataka. In November 2023, TASL and Satellogic had inked a pact to develop and integrate an advanced earth observation satellite.

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TSAT-1A is a sub-metre resolution satellite, which means that it produces images where it is possible to clearly distinguish between objects that are less than one metre apart. Satellites that are used for defence and strategic purposes have resolutions in the range of one metre to even 30 centimetres or lower. This helps in clearly distinguishing even the smallest of objects and deriving maximum information from the image. 

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“This milestone shows TASL’s commitment to the space sector. This is a first step. We are grateful for the support we have received from various Indian Government authorities for required permissions," said Sukaran Singh, CEO and MD, TASL. 

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In the year 2020, the Indian government rolled out reforms in the government-only space sector and permitted private firms to undertake end-to-end space activities. This is a step aimed at increasing India’s overall share in the lucrative global space economy. As part of the reforms, private firms are allowed to design, build and launch their own satellites, rockets, and offer space-based services.

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Prior to the reforms, only the Indian government-run space agency was permitted to perform end-to-end space activities, whereas private firms could only supply hardware and provide services to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). 

Aimed at boosting the homegrown industry, startups, and opening it up to foreign entities, the Indian government also recently permitted Foreign Direct Investment in the country’s space sector.