Pixxel opens new spacecraft manufacturing facility in Bengaluru

Bengaluru-based space data company Pixxel inaugurated its first spacecraft manufacturing facility in Bengaluru on Monday. The new facility holds significance as it targets to launch six satellites this year and 18 more by 2025, further advancing its mission of building a “health monitor” for the planet.

Spread across 30,000 square feet, the facility, at its full capacity, is equipped to handle more than 20 satellites simultaneously that can be turned around within a timeframe of six months, making possible a total of 40 large satellites per year.

The facility was inaugurated by S. Somanath, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), who said, “Space sector is something very tough in terms of technology, market penetration, profitability… Coming into the sector and creating an impact is difficult, as it requires determination, resilience, and time. I congratulate Pixxel for having envisioned, created, and sustained the business for the last five years without losing momentum.”

Pixxel has launched three of its satellites - Shakuntala, D2, and Anand - in collaboration with ISRO and Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The Bengaluru startup further plans to launch Firefly, a constellation comprising six high-resolution hyperspectral satellites, in June. This would be followed by the so-called Honeybees constellation, another satellite constellation that will improve image resolution and the wavelength range of Pixxel's satellites.

“The inauguration of the new facility marks a momentous milestone as Pixxel nears its fifth anniversary since inception. It will bolster our mission to build a health monitor for the planet. By increasing our capacity to build more satellites, we will deliver even more critical data to our customers faster so they can make informed decisions and address the needs of key industries such as agriculture, energy, forestry, and environmental monitoring,” said Awais Ahmed, CEO, Pixxel.

Additionally, Pixxel will also be rolling out its geospatial analytics platform, Aurora, by June 2024. The company’s satellites are used in the environment, agriculture, and mining sectors to detect oil spills, vegetation, and other geographical issues, respectively.

Pixxel has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Agriculture to provide hyperspectral imagery. Pixxel said 98 per cent of its customers are global, including clients such as British Petroleum, Google, and National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).

Talking about customers, Awais said that the total customer base is divided into three divisions as of now - 40 per cent agriculture, 30 per cent resource companies, and 30 per cent government. Pixxel expects 85 per cent of the revenue to be generated from its commercial side and the rest from the government’s side by 2025.

“We expect 15 per cent of the revenue to come from the government’s side in 2025… We expect this to go up to 40 per cent in 2026,” said Ahmed.

Backed by Google and Lightspeed, Pixxel started operations in 2019 and last raised $36 million in a funding round in June 2023.