BENGALURU: Space startup GalaxEye, which earlier this year completed analysis of the data from the payload it had deployed and tested aboard Isro’s PSLV Orbital Experiment Module (POEM) platform — on the rocket that launched India’s Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) mission on Dec 30, 2024 — has achieved another success.
The firm, its CEO and co-founder Suyash Singh confirmed to TOI, has successfully tested its SyncFusion Imaging System, which was part of the payload on POEM, in one of the most extreme environments in orbit—the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA), a region where Earth’s magnetic field is unusually weak.
“The POEM platform was going through SAA and we had an opportunity to activate our payload and repeat our test sequence. We weren’t certain of success since it was essentially a prototype payload. There was some uncertainty involved. We’d met our primary objectives the previous month. However, this time we wanted to test under extreme conditions, it’s about -10°C there,” Singh told TOI.
The success has prompted the firm to consider testing the payload another time. “SAA has an extreme cold temperature, we’ll now also try to do it on the other side of the temperature, which is in the extreme heat conditions as well. Temperatures could be as high as 150°C,” Singh said.
Earlier, the firm had said that its ‘GLX-SQ payload’ onboard POEM was the world’s first fusion of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and optical imagery in orbit.
“Our payload demonstrates an unprecedented capability to merge SAR and optical imaging technologies, enabling unprecedented insights for defence, agriculture, and disaster management applications. The system’s most remarkable feature is its ability to process and compress massive data volumes in less than 10 minutes, delivering real-time, actionable solutions,” the firm said.
Singh said this was not just a technological milestone, but the beginning of a journey to redefine the possibilities of remote sensing and space-based solutions.
Leveraging Isro’s POEM platform, which converts a PSLV rocket’s fourth stage into an orbital testbed, GalaxEye validated its advanced technologies in a real-world space environment. The successful mission sets the stage for the company’s upcoming Mission Drishti, a flagship multi-sensor satellite project aimed at providing all-weather, high-resolution imaging.
Founded in 2021, GalaxEye’s goal is to build the world’s first multi-sensor satellite capable of delivering comprehensive, high-resolution data across various industries.