India’s Space Sector: 300+ Commercial Organizations Shape a New Industry in 2026

Key Takeaways

• India’s space sector has grown from 54 private firms in 2020 to more than 300 active companies today
• Private players span eight segments from launch vehicles to in-space services and exploration
• IN-SPACe projects the Indian space economy will grow from $8.4 billion to $44 billion by 2033

India’s Space Sector Grew From 54 Firms to Over 300 Private Players

IN-SPACe reports more than 300 registered space startups on its portal as of 2026, up from 54 companies in 2020 before the Modi cabinet approved space sector reforms that opened private participation.

This growth traces back to specific policy actions. In June 2020, the government deregulated private space activities and established IN-SPACe as the single-window regulator for non-governmental entities. The Indian Space Policy 2023, approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security in April 2023, formalized the roles of ISRO, IN-SPACe, NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), and the Department of Space. Under the new framework, ISRO focuses on research and development, NSIL handles commercial activities, and IN-SPACe authorizes private sector space activities.

Capital followed policy. In October 2024, the Union Cabinet approved a Rs 1,000 crore venture capital fund for space startups, followed by plans for a Rs 500 crore Technology Adoption Fund in February 2026. In April 2024, a gazette notification amended foreign direct investment rules to liberalize FDI in space manufacturing and services, opening the door to overseas investment under automatic and government routes depending on the activity.

IN-SPACe chairman Pawan Goenka told The Week in April 2026 that three areas stand out for private progress: launch vehicles from Skyroot, Agnikul, and HAL’s SSLV programme; space situational awareness led by Digantara; and Earth observation capabilities built by Pixxel and others. He identified Kulasekarapattinam in Tamil Nadu as the upcoming small-satellite spaceport that will complement Sriharikota.

Funding has been uneven. Inc42’s Indian Startup Funding Report showed space-tech funding fell 35% year-on-year to $81 million in 2024, even as deal count rose from 11 to 14. According to later Inc42 analysis, space tech funding declined over 53% in 2024 versus 2023, with late-stage capital access remaining a persistent concern for companies moving from prototype to operational hardware.

Private Launch Vehicles: Skyroot, Agnikul, and HAL Move Toward Orbital Flight

Skyroot Aerospace plans to launch its first orbital rocket, Vikram-1, in May 2026 from Sriharikota, co-founder Pawan Kumar Chandana told Business Today in March 2026. The Hyderabad company, founded in 2018 by former ISRO scientists, completed a payload fairing separation test on April 8, 2026, clearing one of the last pre-flight checks. Vikram-1 is a four-stage, 20-metre launch vehicle built around lightweight carbon composites and 3D-printed engines, designed to carry up to 350 kg to low Earth orbit or 260 kg to sun-synchronous orbit.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the integrated Vikram-1 rocket at Skyroot’s Infinity Campus in Hyderabad on November 27, 2025, where the company announced a production target of one orbital rocket per month. Skyroot had entered public consciousness in November 2022 when it launched Vikram-S, India’s first privately built rocket, on a suborbital flight from Sriharikota.

Chennai-based Agnikul Cosmos successfully tested its Agnite 3D-printed engine for 77 seconds on April 15, 2026, confirming the engine’s repeatability and flight readiness. Agnite stands one metre tall, runs on refined kerosene and liquid oxygen, and can be printed as a single piece of Inconel in about seven days, cutting the conventional engine manufacturing timeline by roughly 97%. The company plans its first orbital flight, called Flight 02, for 2026, and will attempt to recover the first stage as part of an architecture revision announced in September 2025 that aims at full reusability. Agnikul flew the suborbital Agnibaan SOrTeD on May 30, 2024, which became the world’s first flight of a single-piece 3D-printed engine.

On September 10, 2025, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited signed a technology transfer agreement with NSIL, ISRO, and IN-SPACe for the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle. HAL paid Rs 511 crore for a non-exclusive, non-transferable licence covering design, manufacturing, integration, and launch operations over a two-year absorption phase followed by a 10-year production phase. The agreement allows HAL to mass-produce 6 to 10 SSLV rockets per year, with an initial plan to build 16 units. ISRO chairman V. Narayanan announced in November 2025 that ISRO will also transfer 50% of PSLV development work to private industry, targeting a move from roughly 10 to 12 launches per year toward a target of 50 per year.

Global demand context matters here. According to Arkam Ventures’ 2026 report cited by Skyroot, about 219 private launches were expected worldwide in 2025, but only 33 were serviced by private providers outside China and SpaceX. Small satellites now represent more than 75% of global launches. The comparison below summarizes the three main Indian small-lift vehicles as of April 2026.

Satellite Platforms and Subsystems Scale Up Across Three Startup Clusters

Dhruva Space, founded in Hyderabad in 2012 by Sanjay Nekkanti, has become one of India’s most prolific private satellite manufacturers. As The Week reported in April 2026, the company has completed four PSLV launches, holds an order book of approximately Rs 450 crore, and in August 2025 became the first Indian firm to integrate a satellite directly onto a SpaceX Falcon 9. Dhruva manufactures between 10 and 12 satellites at a time in its 28,000 square-foot Begumpet facility and is building a 280,000 square-foot assembly, integration, and testing plant in Shamshabad that will enable production of 100 satellites per year, handling spacecraft up to 500 kg.

In February 2026, IN-SPACe selected Dhruva Space, Bengaluru-based Astrome Technologies, and Hyderabad-based Azista Industries to develop indigenous small satellite bus platforms under the Satellite Bus as a Service initiative, each receiving a Rs 5 crore grant. The programme had received 15 proposals following an April 2025 Announcement of Opportunity and shortlisted three after a multi-stage evaluation.

Ananth Technologies, founded by Subba Rao Pavuluri and operating from Hyderabad’s Hi-Tech City, has supplied subsystems to ISRO for decades and is now a prime integrator for several components of India’s space programme. Kepler Aerospace, HEX20, XDLINX Space Labs, and Azista BST anchor a satellite manufacturing cluster concentrated around Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Aadyah Space focuses on electric propulsion for small satellites.

Bellatrix Aerospace, an IISc-incubated company founded in 2015, supplies green and electric propulsion to ISRO and foreign customers. Bellatrix flew its Rudra green propulsion system and Arka Hall-effect thruster on ISRO’s PSLV-C58 POEM-3 mission on January 1, 2024, and an upgraded Rudra on POEM-4 on January 2, 2025. The Bengaluru firm raised $20 million in a pre-Series B round in March 2026 led by Cactus Partners, bringing total funding to the low-$30 million range, and is ramping up production of satellite propulsion systems from its 81-person Indian headcount toward a planned U.S. manufacturing presence.

Manastu Space and Bellatrix both compete in the green monopropellant segment, a sector that aims to replace hydrazine with less toxic alternatives. Bellatrix’s Pushpak orbital transfer vehicle, designed to move small satellites to designated orbits after ISRO rocket launches, is scheduled for integration on an ISRO rocket in early 2026 with two customers already signed on. These propulsion players give Indian satellite primes an increasingly complete indigenous supply chain.

Earth Observation Becomes India’s Most Competitive Segment

Pixxel operates six Firefly hyperspectral satellites in sun-synchronous orbit at approximately 550 km altitude, providing 5-metre spatial resolution across 135+ spectral bands with a 40 km swath width. The first three Fireflies launched on SpaceX’s Transporter-12 mission on January 14, 2025; the second trio followed aboard the NAOS Mission on August 27, 2025. The Bengaluru and Los Angeles-based company, founded in 2019 by Awais Ahmed and Kshitij Khandelwal, has raised $95 million, making it the best-funded hyperspectral imaging startup globally, and was named a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer in 2024.

Pixxel holds a 5-year contract with the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office under the Strategic Commercial Enhancements Broad Agency Announcement for Commercial Hyperspectral Capabilities. The Firefly constellation has downlinked more than 80 TB of raw data since launch and achieves peak downlink speeds above 500 Mbps. Pixxel plans to follow the Fireflies with a Honeybee class of satellites that extend coverage into the shortwave infrared across 470-2500 nm, enabling detailed material classification including mineral signatures and soil chemistry.

GalaxEye, also based in Bengaluru, builds SAR-optical fusion satellites that combine synthetic aperture radar and optical imaging in a single platform. SISIR Radar develops SAR systems for Earth observation and defense customers. Piersight, SatSure, Satleo, Skyserve, Suhora, Bhusatyam, JII, MapmyIndia, and GISKernel round out the downstream remote sensing and geospatial analytics segment, with several firms offering AI-driven analytics layered over satellite imagery for agriculture, mining, and climate applications.

EON Space Labs, Kaleideo, and NIBE Space are active in the remote sensing satellite and payload space. SatPalda and Genesys International provide long-established geospatial services to Indian enterprise and government customers. Bhusatyam has developed change detection and AI-based analytics platforms for agricultural and environmental monitoring, extending India’s downstream applications capabilities.

In October 2025, IN-SPACe signed a memorandum of understanding with a Pixxel-led consortium to build India’s first private national Earth observation constellation under the Earth Observation Preparatory Program (EOPP). Six companies had been shortlisted by early 2026 before final selection. Earth observation and remote sensing are projected by FICCI-EY to contribute $8 billion to India’s space revenue by 2033, making this one of the most commercially exposed segments of the Indian space industry.

Digantara Extends Space Situational Awareness Beyond India’s Borders

Bengaluru-based Digantara launched SCOT, the Space Camera for Object Tracking, on SpaceX’s Transporter-12 mission on January 14, 2025. SCOT is one of the world’s first commercial space situational awareness satellites, designed to track resident space objects as small as 5 cm from sun-synchronous orbit. The company demonstrated non-Earth imaging capability in May 2025 when it published an image of a Starlink satellite captured by SCOT in orbit, joining a small group of firms globally that can visually inspect other spacecraft in flight.

In December 2025, Digantara raised $50 million in an all-equity Series B round led by 360 ONE Asset, with participation from SBI Investment of Japan, Ronnie Screwvala, Peak XV Partners, and Kalaari Capital. The funding supports expansion from space situational awareness into space-based missile detection and tracking. Digantara opened a Colorado Springs office in 2025 and was among more than 1,000 companies selected by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency for the Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense contract vehicle.

Operations have scaled accordingly. Digantara runs a 25,000 square-foot satellite manufacturing facility in India that can produce five satellites simultaneously, with plans to scale to 30 satellites via a new facility in Andhra Pradesh. CEO Anirudh Sharma said the company expects to launch 15 satellites across 2026 and 2027, primarily on SpaceX rideshare missions, growing the India-based team from 120 to 250 employees over the coming quarters.

International deals have followed in rapid succession. In February 2026, Digantara partnered with Singapore’s Defence Science and Technology Agency to co-develop advanced SSA software tools. In March 2026, the company won a contract from Thailand’s Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency to support SSA operations after the loss of the THEOS-2A satellite aboard the failed PSLV-C62 mission in January 2026. A cooperation agreement with Tokyo-based ispace aims at improving situational awareness in cislunar space.

Cosmoserve, another Indian SSA participant, complements Digantara in the space surveillance segment. The SSA market remains small globally, with few companies operating at scale, which gives Indian firms an opening that IN-SPACe has identified as one of the most promising private space areas. India’s own Mission Shakti ASAT test in March 2019 produced debris that reinforced the case for sovereign SSA capability, though that debris has since largely decayed from low Earth orbit.

Propulsion, Components, and the Industrial Supply Base

Ground systems and components on the Mukherjee map reveal the industrial backbone inherited from five decades of ISRO supply relationships. Larsen & Toubro fabricated booster segments for ISRO’s LVM3 rocket that carried Chandrayaan-3 to the Moon in 2023. MTAR Technologies manufactures cryogenic engine subsystems, liquid propulsion engine components, and satellite valves. Godrej Aerospace, Walchandnagar Industries, INOX CVA, and SFO Technologies have similarly long histories as ISRO suppliers.

Avionics and electronics form a separate cluster. Kaynes Technology, Data Patterns, Jayashree Electron, Samtel Avionics, Avantel, Tata Advanced Systems, Alpha Design Technologies, and Cyient each supply space-grade avionics, payload electronics, or ground segment systems. Apollo Micro Systems specializes in precision electronics for defence and space applications. Bharat Forge and Kalyani produce forgings for launch vehicle structures and satellite platforms.

Listed suppliers provide indirect equity exposure to India’s growing launch rate. Data Patterns trades on NSE and BSE and supplies satellite electronics. Apollo Micro Systems is listed. Bharat Electronics, Bharat Dynamics Limited, and HAL are large listed public-sector undertakings with substantial space-related revenue. India’s expanding launch record means that components from this supply cluster find their way into foreign rockets as well; India has launched 433 satellites for various foreign countries as of 2025.

Propulsion-specific startups add to this base. Space Fields, Thrustworks Dynamics, and Cosmicport have entered the launch propulsion segment. For satellite-class propulsion, Bellatrix, Manastu Space, and Dream work alongside XDLINX and Aadyah Space. These companies target the satellite ridesharing segment, hosted payload services, and the orbital transfer vehicle market that has grown with the small satellite boom.

Ground station services have opened to private participation as well. Dhruva Space was granted Ground Stations as a Service (GSaaS) authorisation by IN-SPACe in July 2024. Artemys X and several smaller players compete in ground segment services. Mission software specialists including Space TS and ASIL provide flight operations and satellite control software for domestic and export customers, completing what is now a reasonably vertically integrated national supply chain from component to satellite operations.

Connectivity, PNT, and In-Space Services Fill the Applications Layer

Communications and Internet of Things startups include Astrogate Labs, which builds optical laser communication terminals for small satellites, and Astrome Technologies, developing millimeter-wave backhaul systems for rural connectivity. Sanyark Space Technologies, ULOOK, Olee, and ANAV Wireless Technologies target satellite-based IoT, messaging, and connectivity niches. These companies operate at the intersection of the $14.8 billion satellite communications segment that the FICCI-EY Unlocking India’s Space Economy report projects for India by 2033.

Positioning, navigation, and timing has a single dedicated startup presence on the Mukherjee map in Vyomic, which is developing navigation and timing solutions complementary to the NavIC regional navigation system. ISRO continues to operate NavIC, and the Department of Space authorises private use of NavIC signals for civilian and commercial applications under the Indian Space Policy 2023.

In-space services expand the applications layer. Stardour develops a space tug for orbital logistics. Bellatrix’s Pushpak orbital transfer vehicle competes in the same segment and has been onboarded by NSIL for integration into ISRO launch missions. Orbital AI startups TakeMe2Space, Orbit Grid, and Neevcloud are building AI capabilities for on-orbit processing and space-based data services. In February 2026, Agnikul announced a partnership with Neevcloud to build a proof-of-concept model for a space-based AI data centre, with a target launch as early as 2027.

Catalyx operates in the microgravity services segment, developing infrastructure for material science and pharmaceutical research in low Earth orbit, a niche that has opened as commercial space stations emerge globally. In-space infrastructure firms OrbitAID and ANVI, along with several other entries on the Mukherjee map, address on-orbit servicing, assembly, and manufacturing applications that have grown with the expansion of commercial space stations and lunar exploration programs.

These applications layer firms remain small relative to the upstream launch and satellite primes, but they represent where margins tend to concentrate in mature space markets. Downstream analytics, connectivity, and services have historically accounted for the majority of revenue in the U.S. commercial space economy, and IN-SPACe has prioritized demand generation with central and state government customers to help these Indian firms find paying customers at home before they scale internationally.

SBS-3, Defense Demand, and Structural Headwinds

Government demand sits behind much of the private sector activity. The Space-Based Surveillance-3 programme, approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security in October 2024 at a budget of Rs 27,000 crore (approximately $3.2 billion), calls for 52 surveillance satellites to be deployed over the next decade. ISRO will build 21 satellites. The remaining 31 will come from three private primes: Ananth Technologies, Centum Electronics, and Alpha Design Technologies, forming the largest private contribution to any Indian military space programme.

Following Operation Sindoor against targets in Pakistan, the programme timeline was compressed from the original four-year plan. The first batch of satellites is now expected to launch in April 2026, with the full fleet deployed by end-2029. The constellation will combine electro-optical cameras, synthetic aperture radar, infrared sensors, and signals-intelligence payloads across LEO, MEO, and GEO, with onboard AI processing that enables satellites to coordinate autonomously and flag anomalies before ground station review.

Constraints on the commercial side remain. According to Arkam Ventures’ 2026 report, India’s space sector could expand from roughly $13 billion today to nearly $40 billion by 2030. However, IN-SPACe figures for the $8.4 billion space economy (2022 baseline) put India’s share at only 2% of the global market, dwarfed by the United States which captured 52% of worldwide private space funding in 2025. India’s 300+ domestic firms trail the 825+ space companies in the U.S. market.

Structural issues add friction. Indian space startups have faced challenges accessing late-stage capital, with overall funding in 2024 down sharply versus 2023. Some companies still incorporate parent entities abroad to access better funding terms and avoid the 18% GST that Indian companies pay on domestic PSLV launch services, a tax from which foreign customers are exempt. The PSLV-C61 EOS-09 mission failure in May 2025 and the PSLV-C62 loss of Thailand’s THEOS-2A in January 2026 marked two consecutive PSLV failures that complicated near-term commercial planning for ISRO’s customers.

IN-SPACe has responded with demand generation rather than just capital. The regulator has identified space application use cases with central and state governments that private companies will execute, with several projects in motion as of April 2026. At the International Astronautical Congress in Sydney in 2025, India sent a 75-person delegation of which 68 were from private companies, with 22 exhibiting technologies. Goenka projected that Indian private firms could be recognised among top-tier global players within five years, an outcome that depends on both continued government orders, the successful maiden orbital flights of Vikram-1 and Agnibaan, and a break-through in late-stage commercial funding that remains the private sector’s most visible bottleneck.

Appendix: Useful Books Available on Amazon

• Wings of Fire
• From Fishing Hamlet to Red Planet
• The Indian Space Programme
• ISRO: A Personal History
• The Space Barons
• Liftoff

Appendix: Top Questions Answered in This Article

What triggered India’s shift from a state-dominated space program to a private-led one?

The Modi cabinet approved space sector reforms in June 2020 that allowed private participation for the first time. The Indian Space Policy 2023 formalized this by defining distinct roles for ISRO in R&D, NSIL in commercial operations, and IN-SPACe as the single-window authorization regulator. A Rs 1,000 crore venture capital fund and liberalized FDI rules followed in 2024, accelerating private firm formation to more than 300 startups.

Which Indian private companies are closest to achieving orbital launch capability?

Skyroot Aerospace targets May 2026 for the maiden orbital flight of Vikram-1, a four-stage vehicle capable of carrying 350 kg to LEO. Agnikul Cosmos plans its first orbital flight, Flight 02, in 2026 using the Agnibaan rocket powered by single-piece 3D-printed engines. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, which holds the SSLV technology licence from September 2025, will mass-produce 6 to 10 SSLV rockets per year.

How does Pixxel’s Firefly constellation differ from other Earth observation systems?

Firefly satellites deliver 5-metre spatial resolution across 135+ spectral bands, roughly six times sharper than most existing hyperspectral satellites that operate at 30-metre resolution. The six operational satellites provide daily global coverage with 40 km swath width and enable detection of changes invisible to multispectral sensors, including vegetation stress, water contamination, and mineral signatures. Pixxel holds a 5-year contract with the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office.

What is the role of IN-SPACe versus ISRO in authorizing private activities?

IN-SPACe functions as an autonomous agency under the Department of Space and serves as the single-window authorization body for private space activities. It issues guidelines and procedures, grants authorizations for satellite launches and space objects, and handles dispute resolution. ISRO transitioned out of operational manufacturing in 2023 to focus on R&D and scientific missions. NSIL handles commercial operations such as PSLV launches for paying customers.

What does the SSLV technology transfer to HAL change for the Indian launch market?

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited signed a Rs 511 crore agreement in September 2025 with NSIL, ISRO, and IN-SPACe for full SSLV technology transfer. HAL will absorb the technology over two years and then mass-produce 6 to 10 rockets annually for 10 years. The licence covers design, manufacturing, quality control, integration, and launch operations, enabling HAL to independently build and commercialize small satellite launches at scale.

How has Digantara built a space situational awareness business from India?

Digantara launched SCOT, one of the world’s first commercial SSA satellites, on SpaceX Transporter-12 in January 2025. The satellite tracks resident space objects as small as 5 cm using lidar sensors and demonstrated non-Earth imaging of a Starlink satellite in May 2025. A $50 million Series B round in December 2025 funded expansion into missile defense applications, with contracts from Singapore’s DSTA and Thailand’s GISTDA signed in early 2026.

Which listed Indian companies offer equity exposure to the space sector?

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Bharat Electronics, Bharat Dynamics Limited, and MTAR Technologies are the largest listed defence and aerospace firms with substantial space-related revenue. Data Patterns manufactures space-grade avionics and satellite electronics. Apollo Micro Systems supplies precision electronics. These firms supply ISRO directly and serve India’s expanding launch customers, providing indirect exposure to the commercial space buildout given that most startups remain privately held.

What is the expected size of India’s space economy by 2033?

IN-SPACe projects India’s space economy will grow from $8.4 billion in 2022 to $44 billion by 2033, capturing 8% of the global market. This includes $33 billion in domestic revenue and $11 billion in exports. Satellite communications alone is projected at $14.8 billion, while Earth observation is estimated to reach $8 billion by 2033, according to the FICCI-EY Unlocking India’s Space Economy report.

How does India’s SBS-3 surveillance constellation differ from earlier phases?

SBS-3, approved in October 2024 at Rs 27,000 crore, deploys 52 satellites across LEO, MEO, and GEO, dwarfing the four satellites of SBS-1 (2001) and six of SBS-2 (2013). ISRO builds 21 satellites; private firms Ananth Technologies, Centum Electronics, and Alpha Design Technologies build 31. The constellation integrates AI-enabled onboard processing, synthetic aperture radar, electro-optical, and signals-intelligence payloads, with first launches scheduled for April 2026.

What are the main constraints on India’s space sector growth?

Late-stage capital remains the primary constraint, with space-tech funding declining over 50% in 2024 versus 2023. Indian companies pay 18% GST on domestic PSLV launches that foreign customers avoid, pushing some firms to incorporate abroad. India’s $8.4 billion space economy represents only 2% of the global market versus 52% U.S. share. Two consecutive PSLV failures in 2025 and early 2026 added short-term commercial disruption for satellite customers.

Appendix: Glossary of Key Terms

IN-SPACe

The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre is the single-window regulator established in June 2020 to authorize and oversee private sector space activities in India. It sits as an autonomous agency under the Department of Space and issues licences for satellite operations, launch services, ground stations, and data dissemination by non-governmental entities.

Non-Governmental Entity (NGE)

The term refers to any non-state actor, including private companies, startups, and industry consortia, authorized under the Indian Space Policy 2023 to carry out space activities such as satellite operations, launch services, and space-based communications. The classification distinguishes private players from government bodies like ISRO and NSIL.

Low Earth Orbit (LEO)

Orbits below approximately 2,000 km altitude that are the primary destination for Earth observation satellites, communication constellations, and the International Space Station. Satellites in these orbits complete one revolution in about 90 minutes, enabling frequent coverage of any point on Earth but requiring large constellations for continuous service.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit

A near-polar orbit at roughly 500 to 800 km altitude in which a satellite crosses the equator at the same local solar time on every pass. This consistency is valued for Earth observation because lighting conditions remain comparable across successive images of the same location, which simplifies change detection and time-series analysis.

Hyperspectral Imaging

A remote sensing technique that captures imagery across hundreds of narrow, contiguous spectral bands rather than the handful of broad bands used by multispectral sensors. The resulting spectral fingerprint allows identification of specific materials, crop health, water quality, and geological signatures that conventional satellite imagery cannot distinguish.

Space Situational Awareness (SSA)

The capability to detect, track, catalogue, and predict the positions of resident space objects, including active satellites and debris. SSA services help operators avoid collisions, coordinate manoeuvres, and assess threats in increasingly congested orbits. Commercial SSA providers complement government catalogues with higher revisit rates and fine-grained tracking.

Orbital Transfer Vehicle

A spacecraft that carries small satellites from the orbit where a launch vehicle drops them off to their final operational orbit. These tugs reduce satellite propellant mass and enable rideshare customers to reach orbits that would otherwise be inaccessible from a single launch, lowering the cost per kilogram for smallsat operators.

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)

A radar imaging technique that synthesizes a large virtual antenna from a moving platform to achieve high-resolution imagery regardless of cloud cover or time of day. SAR is used for military surveillance, disaster monitoring, and subsidence mapping, and is a required capability for all-weather Earth observation constellations.

Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV)

A three-stage, all-solid launch vehicle developed by ISRO to place satellites weighing less than 500 kg into Low Earth Orbit. HAL received technology transfer for the SSLV in September 2025 under a Rs 511 crore agreement, allowing private mass production of 6 to 10 rockets per year for commercial small-satellite customers.

Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)

ISRO’s primary operational launch vehicle, capable of placing payloads into sun-synchronous, polar, and geostationary transfer orbits. The rocket has launched hundreds of satellites including interplanetary missions to the Moon and Mars. ISRO plans to transfer 50% of PSLV development work to a private industry consortium following two demonstration flights.