Tata to build satellites in India
December 21, 2023
By Chris Forrester
Giant Indian conglomerate Tata, and its Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) division along with Satellogic, have announced their collaboration for establishing and developing local space technology capabilities in India. They say this collaboration is but a first step in TASL’s satellite strategy and a significant milestone for Satellogic as the company enters the Indian defence and commercial market.
The project will commence with comprehensive training, knowledge transfer and local assembly of optical sub-meter resolution Earth Observation (EO) satellites, the first of which is planned to be launched as TSAT-1A. The focus will be on manufacturing satellites and developing imagery in India for national defence and commercial applications, toward which TASL is commissioning a satellite AIT plant at its Vemagal facility in Karnataka, India.
TASL and Satellogic will collaborate on the development of a new satellite design and work together to integrate multiple payloads on a single satellite that will generate a diverse range of data over India.
This contract marks Satellogic’s second Space Systems customer, following an agreement with an international space agency.
“Space is important to TASL not just as a business but also due to its culture of precision that will help other activities in TASL. We are pleased to announce our collaboration with Satellogic, a company with best-in-class technology and an entrepreneurial mindset. Additionally, TASL will also work with local SMEs for payloads and other technologies to bolster India content,” commented Sukaran Singh, CEO/MD, TASL