StarOps traces its origins to TeamIndus, India’s first spacetech startup, set up in 2010, and secured a spot in the Google Lunar XPRIZE competition to land a spacecraft on the moon. Several members of the team previously worked at TeamIndus on its lunar lander and rover programmes.
The acquisition comes about a month after GalaxEye lost contact with Mission Drishti, its maiden Earth observation satellite and the world’s first satellite combining synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and optical imaging.
Launched in May aboard a SpaceX mission, Drishti experienced an anomaly following a geomagnetic solar storm during the final stage of its launch and early orbit phase, the startup said, adding that chances of recovering the spacecraft were low.
The acquisition brings StarOps’ experienced engineering team, proprietary spacecraft technologies and satellite platforms under GalaxEye.
“By welcoming this exceptional team and their technologies into GalaxEye, we are significantly strengthening our capabilities across satellite engineering,” GalaxEye cofounder and CEO Suyash Singh said.
Founded in 2022, StarOps has developed satellite bus platforms in the 50 kg, 150 kg and 250 kg classes, along with critical spacecraft subsystems. The company has indigenised more than 66% of the components in its satellite systems.
StarOps has capabilities in propulsion, avionics, flight computing, guidance and navigation, structures and mechanisms, electrical systems, mission operations and ground operations.
Nirmal Suraj Gadde, StarOps cofounder and now missions lead at GalaxEye, said, “Our focus has always been on building indigenous satellite systems and manufacturing capabilities that can accelerate the growth of India’s commercial space industry.” He added that the focus will remain on developing and deploying a constellation of OptoSAR satellites.
GalaxEye said the acquisition will accelerate product development and increase vertical integration as it builds its planned OptoSAR constellation.
According to Tracxn, GalaxEye, which was founded in 2021, has raised $24 million and counts Yali Capital, Anicut, Rainmatter and Speciale Invest as its investors.