The-US Iran war opens a rare sweet spot for India’s space startups

Mint, the company “has started receiving queries and having conversations with at least two West Asian nations to supply space-based sensing and Earth observation data”.Speciale Invest and Infosys-backed GalaxEye is in the race for surveillance satellite solution services. Suyash Singh, co-founder and CEO, said the company is ready to launch its Drishti optical and synthetic aperture radar (OpToSar) surveillance satellite this quarter, following which surveillance imaging and data services will commence commercially from July.“There is certainly a lot of interest, but the number of surveillance satellites that can cater to foreign demand in the current war from India is only in double digits, as compared with the US having hundreds of satellites in orbit," Singh said."We’re launching a 1.5-metre earth observation satellite in about two months, and in anticipation of the future demand based on queries received, have established plans to set up a 0.5-metre resolution satellite constellation of 20 satellites for Earth observation and surveillance constellation by 2029,” he added.Space firms are therefore hedging their bets on surveillance satellites, seeking to tap into a global surge in demand for space-based data.Several factors are driving this shift.“One of the key factors is that many West Asian nations, including Iran, do not have sovereign satellite capabilities and run very limited and small-scale space programmes.

This leads them to rely on US-based or China-based satellites for surveillance data. Given the current geopolitical balance, this allows independent commercial entities like us to cater to demand for space surveillance organically,” Digantara’s Sharma said.Digantara, also based in Bengaluru, has begun