Spacetech startups Pixxel and Digantara have launched their satellites aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-12 rideshare mission from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Pixxel has launched the first three satellites of its Firefly constellation. These satellites are equipped with hyperspectral imaging technology, offering a resolution of five metres and covering over 150 spectral bands.
This launch marks the first phase of Pixxel’s commercial constellation, with three additional Firefly satellites scheduled to launch in Q2 2025. Together, these satellites will deliver comprehensive, real-time data collection and analysis, equipping industries and governments with insights to address global concerns, manage resources responsibly, and drive climate action.
“The future of our planet depends on how deeply we understand it today. The successful deployment of our first commercial satellites is a defining moment for Pixxel and a giant leap toward redefining how we use space technology to address the planet’s challenges,” said Awais Ahmed, Founder and CEO of Pixxel. “By investing in the health of our planet now, Pixxel hopes not just to shape the trajectory of Earth observation but also to help write the next chapter in the story of our shared future.”
Founded in 2018 by Ahmed and Kshitij Khandelwal, Pixxel is building a constellation of hyperspectral earth satellites to offer imaging services to clients in sectors such as agriculture, mining, and environment, among others.
The company has already launched three successful demo hyperspectral satellites before this launch and raised $95 million in funding, making it the most well-funded hyperspectral imaging space startup globally. Last year, it completed a total raise of $60 million in its Series B funding round from the likes of Google, Radical Ventures, Accenture, Lightspeed, Blume Ventures and growX.
Digantara launched its Space Camera for Object Tracking (SCOT) satellite. This satellite is designed for space surveillance and is capable of tracking objects as small as 5 cm in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO).
Founded in 2018 by Anirudh Sharma, Rahul Rawat and Tanveer Ahmed, Digantara is building an end-to-end space operations infrastructure that plans to support stakeholders across a spacecraft mission’s entire value chain and life cycle.
SCOT will be deployed in a sun-synchronous orbit, enabling it to track objects in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) more efficiently than existing sensors, which are constrained by weather conditions, geographic limitations, and restricted fields of view (FoV).
“Satellites serve as the backbone of the global economy, and any disruptions to their operations can trigger cascading impacts on Earth, affecting both economic stability and strategic security” said Anirudh Sharma, CEO of Digantara. “With SCOT, we are taking a crucial step in achieving surveillance superiority, ensuring not only a safer and more sustainable space environment but also towards safeguarding sovereign assets in the face of an increasingly contested space domain.”
