Visakhapatnam: Taramandal, a space tech start-up based here, plans to develop the nation’s first 60-kg satellite data centre, which is designed to demonstrate a prototype that’s compact, modular and scalable in-orbit computing.
Founder CEO of Taramandal, Vineel Judson, said, “The modular design enables rapid deployment at scale, supporting workloads such as AI model training, national digital infrastructure and disaster prediction systems.”
With the advent of the precise docking technologies, modular data centres can be stacked in orbit as the demand enhances. Its reusable satellite architecture ensures long-term sustainability and cost effectiveness, making orbital computing commercially more viable.
Judson said Taramandal aspires to make India a pioneer in clean, space-based computation—helping meet the nation’s digital ambitions without compromising environmental integrity. Taramandal’s system surpasses global competitors on cost, sustainability and technological integration, he claimed.
He said, “Taramandal is working on this futuristic technology, leading to the setting up of the modular data centre. The general bus of the satellite has already been designed to house the modular data centre, which would be launched shortly. The integration of the data storage payload to the bus of the orbital vehicle is under progress, Also, a futuristic mission with qn docking mechanism is also being planned.”
Taramandal has signed an MoU with some companies that would launch their satellites. The start-up has also signed letter of intents with several space technology firms in Israel and Australia.
“We are in the process of partnering up with IN SPACe for the launch of sub-systems for our satellites which is likely to be launched in Q2 or Q3 next year,’’ Vineel told Deccan Chronicle.
Mentor of the start-up, Prof Mallikarjuna Rao of Andhra University Engineering College here, opined that rapid expansion of artificial intelligence, cloud services and digital infrastructure has triggered an unprecedented boom in terrestrial data centers.
On the terrestrial front, Visakhapatnam is becoming a major data centre hub due to significant investments from Google and Reliance, along with partnerships with Adani and Airtel. Other companies like Reliance are also investing in hyperscale data centres.
