Galaxeye loses contact with Drishti, world's first OptoSAR satellite

GalaxEye's Mission Drishti satellite lost contact after a solar storm-triggered anomaly, with the startup using lessons from the mission for future spacecraft

Bengaluru-based Space start-up Galaxeye has lost contact with its satellite Mission Drishti, the world's first OptoSAR satellite, which was launched in May, and the likelihood of recovery currently appears low.

According to the company, the connection was lost after the satellite encountered an anomaly following a geomagnetic solar storm.

"Initial root cause analysis indicates that radiation effects associated with the event likely impacted a critical onboard system. Communication with the spacecraft subsequently became intermittent and was eventually lost," said Galaxeye.

The satellite integrated electro-optical (EO) and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors into a single operational platform. While EO sensors capture high-resolution images during sunlight and clear skies, SAR sensors provide all-weather and all-time images, using radar pulses.

 

Mission Drishti successfully established communication and completed a major portion of its planned Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP).

The mission successfully validated key spacecraft systems, successfully executed critical deployment and attitude control activities, and operated onboard computing and communications systems.

In a statement, Suyash Singh, founder and CEO of GalaxEye, said, "While the satellite experienced an anomaly following an extreme space weather event, the mission has provided invaluable engineering insights that will directly strengthen our future missions."  "Learning from the mission, we are accelerating our transition toward bringing a significant portion of our supply chain, manufacturing, and satellite development processes in-house, giving us visibility and control over the entire value chain," he added.