New Delhi: Digantara is an exciting New Space Startup based in Bengaluru, that showcased its Non-Earth Imaging (NEI) capabilities earlier in the year, with its SCOT satellite capturing an orbital view of a Starlink satellite. Digantara is the only startup in the country with the capabilities of imaging objects in Earth orbit, but these unique capabilities are just one of the inputs that Digantara processes for space domain awareness. Digantara also uses terrestrial radar instruments and passive RF tracking to understand what is going on in Earth orbit.
Digantara’s platform running on a convertible laptop. (Image Credit: Aditya Madanapalle).
The capabilities are along the lines of national requirements, with ISRO setting up Network for Space Object Tracking and Analysis (NETRA) towards improved space situational awareness (SSA), for tracking the movements of spacecraft, and any potential threats such as passing near Earth objects (NEOs). Digantara’s SCOT satellites are equipped with lidar, that allows for precise measuring of distances to objects, something that has to be estimated when satellites are using optical payloads. Digantara is aiming to provide a more holistic picture of what exactly is going on in Earth orbit with its sophisticated satellites and partner networks of terrestrial sensors.
What space domain awareness means
For satellite operators, it is important to know the positions and velocities of other objects in the vicinity, so that collision avoidance manoeuvres can be executed when there is a conjunction or close approach. Digantara has the capability for providing such information days in advance, but is aiming for something much more. Their machine learning algorithms can flag specific components of satellites, including solar panels and thrusters. The capabilities of orbital hardware can be worked out, even if the information is not disclosed through such imaging. This allows Digantara to not only inform its customers about what satellites are doing, but what they can potentially do as well.
Digantara’s lidar equipped satellites. (Image Credit: Aditya Madanapalle).
At the second National Space Day celebrations at the Bharat Mandapam convention centre in Pragati Maidan, Delhi, Mohammed Zayed from Digantara explained the challenges to the company when it comes to providing SSA services, “The biggest challenge I would say is in two fronts. The first one is the extremely long lead times that exist sometimes in defence or commercial procurement. The other thing is because, now you are the only company that is doing SSA in the country, the nation demands that we be very innovative. We’ve got you covered on the innovation front, but if you are the only company that is doing SSA, procurement rules state that you need at least three. If three companies are doing what we are doing, then it is not really innovative now, is it?”