Latest editionIndependent space reporting
SPACE EXPLORATION.INअंतरिक्ष · India’s space journalIndia-firstSource-led · English edition
Editorial desk
Private companies, public-private programmes and the commercial capacity emerging across India’s space economy.
Military satellite communications
Five companies will each receive a $12 million prototype package to show that independently built satellites and terminals can exchange data through the Space Data Network. The demonstrations are integration tests, not orders for an operational fleet, and they sit beside a separate $2.29 billion backbone award made to SpaceX in May.
Defence satellites
Lightning-GEO supplies the spacecraft platform around Viasat’s X/Ka-band payload. Viasat remains the Space Force prime, and no follow-on satellite order was disclosed.
Satellite communications
The replenishment spacecraft have established contact and begun commissioning, opening the orbital phase of a 17-satellite refresh without yet entering operational service.
Industry
The contract gives the young Vietnamese venture a named route to orbit, but no mission number, spacecraft count or specifications, price, or fixed launch date is public.
In-space manufacturing
The recovered Alchemy module exercised avionics and a return sequence, but the disclosed record does not establish microgravity production or orbital qualification.
Commercial Earth observation
The spacecraft proved early-orbit systems and in-house mission operations, but GalaxEye says imaging never began; its solar-storm explanation remains preliminary as two larger follow-on satellites are planned.
Industry
A Pixxel-led consortium plans a 12-satellite system spanning optical, multispectral, radar and hyperspectral imaging under a five-year public–private programme.