Pixxel gets biggest supplier deal ever from NASA, becomes the first Indian space startup to get orders

Bengaluru| Bengaluru-based space technology startup Pixel (Pixxel) has won the largest supplier deal ever from US space agency NASA (NASA) through its advanced hyperspectral earth-imaging technology. It is part of the $476 million Commercial SmallSat Data Acquisition Program.

In the year 2020, private companies got permission to enter the space sector. It is being seen as the first major success since the year 2020. The deal runs until November 2028. Under this, Pixxel will provide hyperspectral Earth observation data to NASA and its US government and academic partners.

Pixxel’s data will provide information in areas such as climate change, agriculture, biodiversity, resource management. Pixel co-founder (co-founder) and CEO Awais Ahmed (Awais Ahmed) said, ‘This contract with NASA is a great achievement for us and proves that hyperspectral imaging-meaning will be essential for the future of observation.”

Other companies partnering in this deal include Virginia’s BlackSky Geospatial Solutions (Geospatial Solutions), US’s ICEYE US, Canada’s MDA Geospatial Service (MDA Geospatial Service), Virginia’s Planet Labs Federal (Planet Labs Federal), North Korea’s Satellogic Federal (Satellogic Federal), Alabama’s Teledyne Brown Engineering (Teledyne Brown Engineering) and Boston’s The Tomorrow Companies Inc. (The Tomorrow Companies Inc.).

Pixxel is soon going to launch Fireflies (Fireflies), hyperspectral satellites with 5-meter resolution. These satellites will capture data in more than 250 spectral bands, providing more comprehensive coverage with a 40 kilo meter swath width (swath width) and a 24-hour revisit frequency (revisit frequency) anywhere on the planet.

Akash Parekh, Chief Commercial Officer (CFO), Pixel, said the contract is an important step in further enhancing cooperation in the use of hyperspectral data with the scientific community. We are proud to promote further collaboration on hyperspectral data application within the scientific community, and we look forward to working with NASA to advance our mission with this state-of-the-art Earth monitoring methodology.’

With six upcoming satellites to be launched soon, Pixxel plans to expand its group to 24 satellites to make hyperspectral data even more widely available commercially and accessible to stakeholders across industries and governments. This will empower them with real-time, actionable insights to inform decision making, improve natural resource management, and increase environmental resilience. In December 2022, Pixel had launched its first hyperspectral satellite called ‘Anand’.