PierSight's Varuna satellite set for 24/7 all-weather maritime surveillance

The company has developed Varuna, a maritime surveillance satellite that will aboard the Isro's PSLV launcher as a secondary payload aboard the POEM platform, to help perform in-orbit experiments

Persistent monitoring is essential to fill the critical gaps left by traditional satellite systems, which often struggle in bad weather or at night. These systems also lack the 24/7 coverage needed for real-time situational awareness. This is the challenge that PierSight, a spacetech startup co-founded by ex-ISRO scientist Gaurav Seth and former National Instruments engineer Vinit Bansal, aims to address.

 

"The need for persistent monitoring is critical. Illegal fishing is a $30 billion problem worldwide. Oil spills are frequent, and incidents can result in tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in costs. Shipliners need better situational awareness to help them navigate complex waterways," said Gaurav Seth, chief executive officer and co-founder of PierSight.

 

The company has developed Varuna, a maritime surveillance satellite. It will fly aboard the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) PSLV launcher as a secondary payload aboard the POEM platform, which will help perform in-orbit experiments. ISRO is yet to announce the date; however, it is slated for launch within the year.

 

Varuna is the company’s first satellite. This is the first step in PierSight's ambition to establish a constellation of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Automatic Identification System (AIS) satellites, aimed at providing persistent, near-real-time monitoring of all human activity at sea.

 

PierSight’s SAR and AIS satellite constellation will provide 100 per cent ocean coverage with up to 30-minute revisit times. Unlike conventional optical satellites, Synthetic Aperture Radars aboard the satellite can see even through cloud cover, extreme weather, and night-time. This enables PierSight’s dedicated maritime-focused constellation to offer persistent monitoring—a vital tool to accurately track ship movements, detect oil spills, and geo-fence critical infrastructure such as undersea cables and pipelines.

 

"There’s also the need for the protection of Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ), which are a nation’s vital economic and security resource. Varuna is the first step toward launching a full-fledged constellation," said Seth.

 

Developed in an unprecedented nine months, Varuna is equipped with breakthrough technologies, including a SAR system in CubeSAT format and an indigenously developed reflectarray antenna, showcasing the first private SAR satellite in-orbit demonstration from India.

 

"Technology readiness level (TRL) is defined on a scale of 1 to 9 (with 9 being the highest). With Varuna, we will achieve TRL-9 for all subsystems. This will demonstrate flightworthiness for all future missions," said Vinit Bansal, chief technology officer and co-founder, PierSight, about the mission's achievement.

 

The satellite features a deployable reflectarray antenna and a modular Software-Defined Radar and Radio (SDRR), innovations crucial for enhancing satellite adaptability and future operational needs. "Inspired by the antenna design on the MarsOne CubeSAT, we opted for a reflectarray because of the ability to balance a smaller form factor and high power efficiency, which is essential for bringing SAR to a CubeSAT," said Bansal.

 

Varuna exemplifies PierSight's rapid deployment capabilities, setting new standards in an industry where 18–24 months is the norm. "This rapid development demonstrates our ability to respond swiftly to the urgent needs for environmental and security surveillance," said Seth. "We are setting new standards in the industry by rapidly advancing from concept to flight-readiness in such a short span. Our existing and potential customers are interested in launch-on-demand capabilities; Varuna is a demonstration of this capability."

 

While India's share in the global space economy so far is small—around 2 per cent—Seth was of the view that the government’s policy and InSpace's decadal vision clearly aim to increase that share to about 10 per cent.

 

"We've seen policies align with this vision. Since we started, the Indian government introduced foreign direct investment through the automatic route, which has been really supportive," said Seth. "Apart from rocket fuel, capital is the fuel companies like ours need at early stages. This is a sunrise sector and capital-intensive, so the FDI policy really helps. Plus, the recent budget announced a ₹1,000 crore VC fund for the space sector, which is a huge boost for emerging companies."

 

The firm has raised $6.6 million in funding from Alpha Wave Ventures, Elevation Capital, Techstars, All In Capital, and angels including Andreas Klinger.

 

PierSight is inviting potential customers, partners, and stakeholders to join their early access programme. It is offering a first look at the capabilities of its cutting-edge satellite technology.

 

Bansal said the PierSight team is focused on creating cutting-edge synthetic aperture radar satellites with a commitment to both innovation and cost-efficiency. He said the antenna panels, for example, were crafted with high-quality PCBs manufactured in Gandhinagar and strengthened with carbon composites from Ahmedabad Textile Research Institute (ATIRA), an institution founded by Dr Vikram Sarabhai, the father of the Indian space mission.

 

"Every module of our satellites was indigenously designed and developed in-house, demonstrating our commitment to advancing India’s technological readiness for future missions," said Bansal. "By producing world-class technology at reasonable costs within India, we’re setting new standards in the space sector and proving the value of local manufacturing and innovation."