India Picks Three Space Start-Ups To Build Indigenous Small Satellite Bus Platforms

Last Updated:February 11, 2026, 17:09 IST

IN-SPACe’s initiative offers ready-made satellite platforms to customers so they can fly their payloads in space without having to build a full satellite themselves

In another push to promote the government’s Make-in-India initiative, three Indian space start-ups have been chosen to develop and test indigenous small satellite bus platforms capable of carrying and operating different customer payloads.

The selected start-ups – Bengaluru-based Astrome Technologies, and Hyderabad-based Azista Industries and Dhruva Space – will get a grant of Rs 5 crore to develop, and demonstrate robust, modular and scalable small satellite bus. The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) which had opened this Announcement of Opportunity (AO) last year, said it has reviewed as many as 15 proposals received since July 2025 in a multi-stage evaluation process.

This is part of its SBaaS (Satellite Bus as a Service) initiative to offer ready-made satellite platforms (satellite bus) to customers so they can fly their payloads in space without the need to build a full satellite themselves. The satellite buses developed under the SBaaS initiative will serve as a cost-effective platform to accommodate multiple hosted payloads, catering to both domestic and global market requirements. IN- SPACe, the autonomous agency which was set up to promote private participation in India’s space sector has formally signed contract agreements with the selected companies on Wednesday marking the formal commencement of implementation under the scheme.

Pawan Goenka, Chairman, IN-SPACe, said the Satellite Bus as a Service (SBaas) initiative marks an important step in building a robust, sustainable, and globally competitive small satellite manufacturing ecosystem in India. “By enabling indigenous satellite bus platforms and integrating them with India’s emerging small satellite launch capabilities, we are laying the foundation for India to become a preferred global destination for end-to-end small satellite manufacturing, launch, and hosted payload services," he remarked.

IN-SPACe will continue to support the selected companies through milestone-linked grant disbursement and by facilitating access to ISRO facilities and IN-SPACe infrastructure, testing facilities, and technical expertise. In the next stages, it will allow companies to fly payloads on these satellite platforms, helping them to grow from developing satellites to carrying out complete space missions.

“By providing standardised and flight-proven satellite bus platforms for hosted payload missions, we hope to reduce entry barriers for payload developers while strengthening domestic manufacturing capabilities and reinforcing India’s position in the rapidly growing global hosted payload services market," added Rajeev Jyoti, Director – Technical Directorate, IN-SPACe.

The news comes close on the heels of another development wherein IN-SPACe signed a formal agreement with Bengaluru-based space start-up Pixxel Space India and Allied Orbits Pvt Ltd (SPV formed by Pixxel-led consortium) to build India’s first privately-led Earth Observation satellite constellation. The target is to launch as many as 12 state-of-the-art earth observation satellites in orbit which will provide reliable access to Earth observation data for the government in coordination with IN-SPACe.

The consortium will invest over Rs 1,200 crore to deploy these satellites, which will be equipped with panchromatic, multispectral, hyperspectral, and microwave SAR sensors, in one of the largest public-private partnerships in the Indian space sector.

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