Indian firms Pixxel and Dhruva Space placed four satellites in orbit on a Falcon 9 rideshare, marking fresh steps in their commercial satellite roadmaps.
Two Indian space technology companies, Pixxel and Dhruva Space, have placed satellites in orbit through a commercial launch contract with SpaceX. The mission was conducted aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 27 August.
Pixxel deployed three of its Firefly hyperspectral imaging satellites, taking its fleet size to six. These satellites capture data across hundreds of spectral bands, supporting use cases such as agriculture, urban planning, mineral mapping, and environmental monitoring.
Dhruva Space launched its LEAP-1 satellite, a technology demonstrator built on its P-30 platform, showcasing its small-satellite platform designed for diverse applications including communications, navigation, and Earth observation.
The choice of SpaceX highlights a shift in India’s private sector launch strategy. SpaceX offers higher launch frequency, lower cost per kilogramme to orbit, and global availability compared to India’s domestic options.
In 2024, SpaceX completed 134 launches, and by mid-2025, Falcon 9 alone had crossed 100 flights. By contrast, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has averaged five to seven launches annually and has not executed a commercial mission in 2025.
ISRO has not launched any commercial satellites in 2025. Its focus has been on strategic missions such as the joint NASA–ISRO NISAR Earth observation satellite launched in July and preparations for the uncrewed Gaganyaan human spaceflight test scheduled for December.
The PSLV-C61 failure in May, which led to the loss of EOS-09, has also slowed activity, with the failure report yet to be made public.
