India signs ₹63.84 crore GalaxEye debenture agreement

India’s Technology Development Board has signed an agreement with Bengaluru-based GalaxEye Space Solutions for ₹63.84 crore in Research, Development and Innovation Fund support, the Press Information Bureau announced on 24 September. The money is intended for development of the company’s proposed multisensor Earth-observation satellite.

The support is to be provided through optionally convertible debentures, according to the government release. It is therefore a financing agreement, not a grant. The release puts the project’s total approved cost at ₹247.69 crore but does not give a disbursement date, repayment terms or conditions for converting the debentures into equity. The signed agreement text was not published with the release.

The project aims to combine synthetic aperture radar, which can image through cloud and darkness, with electro-optical sensing. The board says the development work is intended to move GalaxEye’s OptoSAR technology from technology-readiness level 6 to level 9 through engineering, testing and validation. Sub-0.5-metre imaging is a design goal in the release, not a demonstrated result of this agreement.