The $145 Million Bet
The landmark IN-SPACe Earth Observation Public-Private Partnership programme represents a fundamental shift in how India approaches both space technology and agriculture. Under this initiative, the Pixxel-led consortium—which includes SatSure, Dhruva Space, and PierSight—will build and operate a constellation that marks India’s first fully indigenous commercial Earth Observation Satellite System.
The 12-satellite network, to be developed over four to five years, will feature a sophisticated mix of capabilities: sub-meter very high-resolution imaging, wide-swath multispectral sensors, Synthetic Aperture Radar, and hyperspectral satellites. According to Dhruva Space, this combination will enable applications ranging from precision agriculture and water quality monitoring to land-use mapping and environmental compliance.
Crucially, the project aims to reduce India’s dependence on foreign imagery while ensuring that all satellites are manufactured domestically and launched on Indian rockets. It’s a statement of technological sovereignty with agriculture at its core.
Why Agriculture Needs a Space Upgrade
Despite rapid economic progress in recent years, India remains a largely agrarian country, and true progress cannot be achieved without agricultural modernization.
India’s agriculture market stands at around $390 billion and is projected to reach $473.72 billion by 2029, growing at 4.9% annually.
Beyond market value, the sector remains the nation’s backbone—providing employment to 55% of the population, supporting allied industries, and feeding the world’s largest population.
At the same time, it is a sector that needs close monitoring and policy support, which inturn creates a dependency on reliable data.
This is partly because it is heavily dependent on the monsoon: A single season of delayed rainfall can thrown an entire year’s agricultural output into disarray.
Hence, predictive analytics and early-warning systems become critical, and help farmers anticipate weather shocks and respond proactively.
However, given the extremely fragmented nature of landholdings, crop surveys by state governments currently cost thousands of crores of rupees.
This is where space technology comes in. Prateep Basu, CEO and Founder of SatSure, points out that such surveys can now be done using satellite data at a fraction of the cost.
Earth Observation satellites capture high-resolution images and generate critical data that track crop health, detect pests and diseases, estimate yields, and monitor soil and water conditions. The same satellite-derived information supports everything from accurate rainfall forecasting to auto-steering tractors for precise sowing.
“There’s a huge gap between manual processes and satellite-based processes,” Basu explains. “Even drones, which are useful for precision applications such as variable-rate irrigation or pesticide spraying, cannot cover an entire state on a weekly basis to collect imagery. It’s simply too expensive.”
The second reason, as pointed out by Pranit Mehta, Co-founder of GalaxEye, stems from agriculture’s status as a critical economic pillar. Over the years, ISRO has actively promoted satellite-based applications in agriculture, especially within government programmes and increasingly in the commercial sector.
“As a result, agriculture has naturally emerged as one of the most accessible and ready markets for space-tech startups in the country,” Mehta says.
GalaxEye is building Mission Drishti, the world’s first satellite to combine Synthetic Aperture Radar with optical multispectral imaging on a single platform. This innovation promises high-resolution, all-weather imagery crucial for agriculture, which often faces visibility challenges due to clouds or rain.
“This technology directly addresses the limitations of traditional optical satellites, providing consistent, reliable imagery that’s analytics-ready regardless of weather or time of day,” Mehta notes.
