India's first private satellite constellation

Why in the news?

• Recently, a Bengaluru startup Pixxel has launched India's first private satellite constellation.

Key points:

• It has been developed by space startup company Pixxel.
• A network of small satellites has been established in this mission.
• This is the country's first private imaging satellite constellation.
• It will work together and collect data from different parts of the Earth.
• It is specially designed to provide high-resolution imagery.
• It will be used for many important tasks like earth monitoring, agriculture, environmental monitoring, and meteorology.
• Pixxel has launched the first 3 satellites of its 'Firefly' constellation from Elon Musk's company 'SpaceX's' Falcon-9 rocket.
• They have been launched 550 kilometers below the Earth's orbit.

Satellite Constellation:

• It is a group of satellites that work together to provide wider and better coverage, data storage and communication services.
• Several satellites in a constellation work as a fixed network, so that data can be received from different parts of the Earth at the same time and monitored continuously.

Startup company Pixxel:

• Pixxel was started in 2019 by engineer friends named Avais Ahmed and Kshitij Khandelwal.
• Pixel started its space journey in April 2022.
• Its aim is to create a constellation to monitor the Earth.
• Google and Accenture support this startup company.