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Space Situational Awareness (SSA) start-up Digantara Research and Technologies’ Pushan-alpha space mapping testbed has been successfully deployed in space by billionaire Elon Musk promoted SpaceX Transporter 6 mission late Tuesday evening.
The reusable Falcon 9 rocket carrying Digantara payload launched the Transporter-6 mission to the Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, US, at 8.26 pm India time.
Pushan-alpha will function as a space weather testbed in the Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO) for enhancing precision-driven SSA applications. This second payload launched by the Bengaluru-based firm in nearly six months will supplement data gathered through its ROBust Integrating (ROBI) proton fluence meter. ROBI was launched on the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) workhorse PSLV C53 in June.
The mission is named after Pushan, the Hindu solar deity that protects travellers during their journeys. Its three-pronged objectives include extending radiation measurements to SSO, assessing mid to high-energy particle radiation from the South Atlantic Anomaly, and investigating any correlation of atmospheric drag and particle environment for enhanced orbit and debris modelling.
Space weather or disturbances such as solar radiation and geomagnetic storms emanating from the Sun can potentially disrupt satellite-based positioning and navigation, high-frequency radio communications and power grids. Then there is the problem posed by debris or junk resulting from previous space missions.
“With a growing number of satellites being launched into space, space sustainability has been brought into serious question. Since the beginnings of space travel, there has been a dearth of data associated with space situational awareness, and we are looking to help supplement this decades-old paucity of data with our indigenously built technology and infrastructure,” Digantara founder & CEO, Anirudh Sharma said in a statement shared with Business Today.
One-stop solution for global space launches
Founded in 2018, Digantara is working on the development of end-to-end infrastructure to address the difficulties of space operations and traffic management through its Space Mission Assurance Platform (Space-MAP). The company wants to offer Space-MAP as a one-stop solution for space launches globally, with products offered through a data feedback loop using multi-modal data sets to serve as a foundational layer for space operations and astrodynamics research.
This would be akin to creating a reckoner like Google Maps for space, Sharma had told BT earlier.
Digantara is looking at deploying two more SSA missions this year. The firm had also inked an agreement with the government of Uttarakhand to establish the country’s first commercial space situational observatory, which is expected to be functional by the second quarter of 2023. This will also support its space-based sensors in their mission to monitor satellites and debris in orbits ranging from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) to develop capabilities for both military and civilian applications.
Digantara has been incubated by the Society for Innovation and Development (SID) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), with the Pushan-alpha mission being partially funded by the institute’s Centre of Excellence.
In 2021, the firm received seed funding of $2.5 million from Kalaari Capital for SSA research. It has started work on raising fresh funding through a Series-A round.
Also read: India’s spacetech start-up Digantara to welcome New Year with mapping testbed launch aboard Elon Musk’s rocket
Also read: Satellite maker GalaxEye becomes first Indian spacetech start-up to close $3.5 mn seed funding round at fastest clip
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