Four Indian new space startups reach orbit on SpaceX Transporter-18

SpaceX’s Transporter-18 rideshare mission has successfully deployed satellites from Hyderabad-based Dhruva Space and TakeMe2Space hosting payloads from Ahmedabad-based SatLeo Labs and Hyderabad-based EON Space Labs.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 11:32 am Pacific Time on October 1, or 12:02 am IST on October 2, after the launch window opened at 11:18 am PT. SpaceX’s Transporter-18 is its 18th dedicated small-satellite rideshare mission and carries cubesats, microsatellites, hosted payloads and orbital transfer vehicles.

Dhruva Space’s LEAP-2 is a commercial hosted-payload platform, the HORUS Star tracker for the French company Sodern. SatLeo’s TAPAS-1 is an innovative thermal imaging satellite technology demonstrator that is also hosted by the LEAP-2 mission. The tech has both civilian and strategic applications. TakeMe2Space’s MOI-1A is intended to turn a satellite into an orbital computing platform capable of running artificial-intelligence models on Earth-observation data before sending the results back to Earth, and carries the lightweight MIRA space telescope, developed by Hyderabad-based EON Space Labs.

Mira – EON Space Labs

Dhruva Space turns LEAP into a commercial platform

Dhruva Space’s LEAP-2, is the second commercial mission under the Hyderabad company’s Launching Expeditions for Aspiring Payloads (LEAP) programme.

LEAP uses Dhruva’s P-30 satellite platform to host technologies that need an orbital test without having to develop and launch an entire satellite of their own. LEAP-2 carries multiple in-orbit demonstrations, including France-based Sodern’s HORUS star tracker and SatLeo Labs’ TAPAS-1 as a hosted payload.

SpaceX’s mission timeline lists LEAP-2’s deployment at about 58 minutes after liftoff. Dhruva also handled the end-to-end integration of LEAP-2 with Falcon 9, extending its role beyond building the satellite platform into launch integration and mission delivery. SpaceX

A startup developing a new sensor, communications system or other payload does not necessarily need to finance an entire spacecraft and navigate the launch process alone. A hosted platform such as LEAP can provide the spacecraft, launch integration and other infrastructure needed to get the technology into orbit. TAPAS-1 is one of the technologies using that model.

SatLeo’s thermal imaging technologies

Ahmedabad-based SatLeo Labs is using LEAP-2 to fly TAPAS-1, which the company describes as India’s first dedicated commercial thermal-imaging........

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