One satellite, many missions: This new Indian satellite can switch jobs in space

A Hyderabad space startup will fly a largely self-funded imaging satellite in the last quarter of 2026, backing its own technology rather than waiting for a customer.

In Short

• An Indian startup will fly a self-funded imaging satellite in late 2026.
• It is backing its own technology rather than waiting for a customer.
• A second mission follows in early 2027.

Most satellites are built from scratch for a single job. A Hyderabad startup is doing it differently, building one base design that can be configured for very different missions, from imaging the Earth to relaying communications to aiding navigation, instead of starting over each time.

XDLINX Space Labs will fly a largely self-funded imaging satellite in the last quarter of 2026, its vice president for global strategy and manufacturing, Dr Sudheer Kumar N, a former Isro scientist, told IndiaToday.in in an exclusive conversation at the India Space Congress.

A second mission will follow in the first quarter of 2027. Both dates are being reported for the first time.

An imaging satellite is one that photographs the Earth from orbit, the kind of spacecraft that supplies the pictures behind maps, crop surveys and disaster response.

A SATELLITE OF ITS OWN

The satellite that will be launched in the last quarter of 2026 will carry an optical payload, the working part of the satellite that does the actual job.

In this case, it is a camera that captures images in ordinary visible light, much as a normal camera does, but from hundreds of kilometres up.

Its purpose is to prove the company's own technology in space, what engineers call qualifying capability. A design can look flawless on the ground, but until it has worked in orbit, no customer fully trusts it.

By paying for the mission itself rather than waiting for an order, XDLINX is in effect backing its own technology with its own money.

The satellite is meant to fly on the SSLV, or Small Satellite Launch Vehicle, Isro's smallest rocket, built to carry compact satellites to low Earth orbit, the band a few hundred kilometres up where most imaging satellites work.

XDLINX has applied for a slot, though Dr Sudheer noted the final list of what flies on any rocket is set by the launch provider, not the company.

ONE DESIGN, MANY MISSIONS

What sets the company's satellites apart is that they are software-defined, meaning much of what they do is written in software rather than fixed in the hardware.

That lets a single base design be configured for very different jobs, from imaging the Earth to relaying communications to aiding navigation, instead of building a new satellite from scratch each time.

It is an approach the world's biggest manufacturers have taken up, though few Indian firms have.

"If you hard-code a satellite and send it to space, then after a year or two, if you want to change the mission, it is not possible," Dr Sudheer said.

The company is quick, too. Its first satellite, Janus-1, was built in just 10 months.

Janus-1 was launched on Isro's SSLV, the same small rocket the new mission is set to use.

Its satellites also use edge computing, filtering their own pictures in orbit and sending down only the useful frames, rather than wasting power beaming back image after image of an empty ocean.

THE SECOND MISSION

The early-2027 flight will be a collaborative launch, with XDLINX sharing the ride and carrying payloads from partner companies, subject to a rocket being available.

Two missions in eighteen months, the first paid for out of its own pocket, is a bold step for a young Indian company, and a sign of how quickly the country's new space firms now expect to move.

- Ends