New Delhi: The world’s first commercial space surveillance satellite of an Indian startup, capable of tracking objects as small as 5 cm orbiting the Earth, was commissioned on Saturday as it captured images over South America.
“Space just ran out of hiding spots,” Bengaluru start-up Digantara said in a post on X as its satellite SCOT (Space Camera for Object Tracking) started operations. Digantara had launched SCOT on Jan 14 aboard Elon Musk-owned SpaceX’s Transporter-12 rocket.
In a statement, the company said the SCOT satellite achieved first light on Saturday and its inaugural image while passing over South America — a breathtaking view of Earth’s limb, with the city of Buenos Aires glowing against the planet’s curvature.
On the satellite’s first show, Digantara CEO Anirudh Sharma posted on X, “A Picture of Possibility, Future of Space based SSA. When we started, doubt was our first companion. Was it even possible for us to achieve what we had set out to do? Space doesn’t reward hesitation. It demands precision, resilience, and belief especially when the odds seem impossible. And yet, here we are. The first raw image from SCOT-1 clicked above South America!”
The CEO further said, “SCOT’s first image is more than a technical milestone; it’s a symbol of our team’s resilience and unwavering commitment to safeguarding Earth’s orbits for generations to come.”
Soon after the SCOT satellite launch in January, PM Narendra Modi had then congratulated the startup and posted on X, “Kudos to Indian space startup @Digantarahq on the success of Mission SCOT. This is an important contribution of the growing Indian space industry towards enhancing space situational awareness.”
The satellite is designed to track and monitor objects as small as 5 cm, with a high revisit rate for frequent and precise observations of orbital activity. As space becomes more and more congested, this advanced capability is essential for mitigating collision risks and promoting sustainable space operations by providing accurate and dependable data to satellite operators and regulatory bodies.
Former Isro chairman S Somanath congratulated “Digantarahq for making a dream come true. Having our own Space based SSA capability demonstrated by SCOT-1”.
SCOT has been deployed in a sun-synchronous orbit that allows it to track objects in low earth orbit with more efficiency than existing sensors, which are restricted by fields of view, weather conditions and geographic limitations.
