As part of the Transporter-8 Mission by Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, Azista BST Aerospace Pvt Ltd’s first satellite, ABA First Runner (AFR), was launched onboard the Falcon 9 rocket on June 13, 2023.
The satellite lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, as part of Musk’s SpaceX rideshare project. There were 72 spacecraft—including CubeSats, MicroSats, orbital transfer vehicles and a re-entry capsule on the rocket besides India’s AFR.
This marks a significant step forward in the country’s space exploration sojourn. The company is working to develop the next set of satellites and plans to manufacture ‘Made in India’ satellites on a mass scale for the global market. This successful mission is a forerunner of its intentions.
Indian startup BST Aerospace has established an avant-garde 50,000 sq. ft facility that has the capability of supporting the manufacture of 2 satellites every week. The AFR, built on a modular bus platform, weighs 80 kg. It carries a wide-swath, remote-sensing, optical payload with both panchromatic and multispectral imaging capabilities. Going by its size and performance, AFR is the first-of-its-kind satellite indigenously built by India’s private space sector, which has the capability to support various critical applications for military and civilian uses.
Managing Director Srinivas Reddy Male said, “The deployment of the ABA First runner imaging Satellite is a noteworthy accomplishment for the company. This satellite is the product of a lengthy four-year effort and this launch is just the first of many ambitious projects our firm aims to complete.”
“The teams at Azista and Azista BST are preparing for the mass production of satellites,” he added.
“This undertaking displays our competence to gather, incorporate sophisticated technologies from its collaborators and successfully construct, keep the satellites aloft. Our earnest endeavour to work in the domain of advanced and intricate technologies reflects that with determination and cooperation among teams, we can overcome the arduous challenges in space,” Srinivas Reddy Male added.
Sunil Indurti, director of Azista BST Aerospace said that the launch of the AFR satellite is part of the Transporter 8 Mission. Indurti, on behalf of Azista BST Aerospace, asked establishments and individual researchers who want to explore the possibilities of using fresh satellite data for different geospatial applications to contact the company and take advantage of this exciting opportunity.”
This mission will establish ABA as fully capable of manufacturing satellites on its own. “AFR is the first remote-sensing satellite the company launched and it will deliver a panchromatic image with a resolution of five metres and a swath of 70 kilometres,” Bharath Simha Reddy P, company’s business development manager, said. He added that there were plans to launch 3-4 missions over a period of 2-3 years to illustrate the capabilities of the company’s satellite payloads.
About Azista BST Aerospace
It is an Indo-German satellite-making collaboration. Azista Industries Pvt. Ltd of India owns 70 percent of the company and Berlin Space Technologies GmbH of Germany owns the other 30 percent in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, for manufacturing small ‘Made in India’ satellites for the world market.
ABA has an installed yearly manufacturing capacity of 100 microsatellites. This makes it India’s largest satellite manufacturing facility. ABA also provides other satellite-makers with subsystems and has plans to start manufacturing tiny satellites for both military and civilian use. The company aims at manufacturing around 100 satellites each year, each spacecraft of between 50 and 200 kilograms in weight.
Future plans
Azista BST Aerospace is yet undecided if it will own a constellation of satellites and make money selling data gathered by those satellites. There are plans to sell Remote-sensing data collected by the first satellite. BS Reddy P says data acquired from the first satellite may be sold to the agriculture, strategy and analytics sectors. Most of these customers are located in South-East Asia and other locations, one of which is India.
From ISpA
In an official statement, Lt Gen AK Bhatt (Retd), Director-General, Indian Space Association (ISpA), said, “The satellite launched will enable a variety of critical applications for civilian and defence purposes.”
