Space startup Agnikul Cosmos has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ICEYE, a global Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite maker, to launch and operate satellites from India.
Under the agreement, ICEYE will explore building local SAR manufacturing capabilities in India while leveraging Agnikul’s launch and infrastructure capabilities.
Speaking to businessline, Srinath Ravichandran, Co-founder, Agnikul Cosmos, said that the aim of the partnership is not just providing launch services but to create an integrated SAR intelligence capability for India. “This is an end-to-end solution wherein we are using our vehicles, a combination of ICEYE’s technologies and our own technologies and building ground-up infrastructure for interesting applications,” he said.
Expanding more on SAR satellites, Ravichandran said that unlike conventional optical or hyperspectral imaging, SAR uses radio waves and can penetrate cloud cover and dense vegetation. “Combining SAR data with other imaging technologies provides richer, higher-resolution Earth observation capabilities,” he added.
Agnikul and ICEYE announced the partnership at the Bharat Innovates summit in Nice, France, which saw the participation of French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“India is an important market for us as demand for sovereign intelligence capabilities continues to grow globally. Partnerships built around speed, reliability and long-term execution are becoming increasingly important in these times and this is what we seek to build with Agnikul,” said Rafał Modrzewski, Co-founder and CEO of ICEYE.
On the timeline, Ravichandran said that work on the collaboration has already begun, with some software systems and interfaces being developed ahead of deployment. He added that the companies are looking to begin deployment as early as possible without revealing a specific launch date.
On the current geopolitical situation, he said that though the company has not seen any direct impact, some of its suppliers have faced challenges around raw material availability and procurement timelines.