Made-in-India solar tech Dhruva Space to power Pixxel’s hyperspectral satellites in NewSpace milestone

BENGALURU: Space startups Dhruva Space and Pixxel have entered a strategic partnership that will see Dhruva’s space-grade solar panels, “Solis+”, integrated into Pixxel’s next-generation satellite fleet.“The partnership will combine Dhruva’s advanced power systems with Pixxel’s high-resolution Earth observation satellites. Pixxel’s upcoming fleet builds on the successful 2025 launch of its Firefly satellites, which delivered the world’s first 5-meter commercial hyperspectral imagery,” Dhruva said Monday.Pixxel founder and CTO Kshitij Khandelwal, pointing out that power systems are mission-critical, and there’s no room for errors in space, said, as Pixxel expands capabilities, they’re building with partners who bring deep technical ability and a shared focus on mission readiness.

“Dhruva Space’s Solis+, manufactured in-house, utilise high-efficiency (up to 30%) triple-junction GaAs solar cells and are engineered for extreme reliability in orbit. With power capacities scaling up to several kilowatts, Solis+ is ideally suited for larger satellite missions,” Dhruva said.The panels are already gaining international traction, with exports underway to the UAE, Austria, Australia, and France.

In Nov 2024, the company successfully delivered Solis+ units to the Government of India.“This partnership represents the best of India’s NewSpace capabilities coming together. There are very few global players that design, manufacture, qualify, and export space-grade solar panels. This is not just a hardware agreement — it’s a statement that Indian spacetech companies are scaling with flight heritage and global readiness,” Dhruva CTO and co-founder Abhay Egoor, said.