New Delhi, May 3 (IANS). Satellite ‘Mission Drishti’ developed by Bengaluru-based private space startup GalaxyEye was successfully launched on Sunday with the help of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The Indian Embassy in America has expressed happiness over the successful launch of ‘Mission Drishti’.
The embassy wrote on social media platform
Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh also wrote on Twitter, “India’s space journey has become even more exciting. ‘Mission Drishti’ has been successfully launched, bringing the world’s first optosar and taking a giant leap in all-weather Earth observations. Hearty congratulations to the team that has taken this bold step in India’s private space travel. The future clearly lies in space.”
On Sunday, Mission Drishti weighing 190 kg was launched from California. It is the largest satellite ever built by an Indian private company. The specialty of this particular satellite is that it has a multispectral camera and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Imager installed on the same satellite.
The core of the Drishti mission is an innovative hybrid system called OptoSAR, a technology combining optical imaging and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) on a single platform. Traditionally satellites rely on either optical sensors or radar.
Optical systems capture detailed and colored images similar to photographs, but cloud cover and darkness make these ground images less clear. Radar systems, on the other hand, use radio waves to see through clouds and also work at night, although they usually produce less clear images.
OptoSAR bridges this gap by integrating both technologies in a single satellite. It captures optical and radar data simultaneously at once, then combines the outputs into a unified image. As a result, extremely detailed pictures of the Earth will be available in every season, even when there are clouds. It is one of India’s highest-resolution satellites.
This successful launch highlights the growing role of global partnerships in India’s space journey. By leveraging SpaceX’s launch services, Indian startups are gaining faster and more flexible access to orbit while focusing on cutting-edge payload development.
–IANS
OP/ABM