More than two months after Bengaluru-based spacetech startup GalaxEye launched Mission Drishti, the world's first OptoSAR satellite, aboard a SpaceX mission, communication with the spacecraft has been lost. While recovery efforts are ongoing, the likelihood of recovery currently appears low, Galaxeye revealed on Tuesday.
Drishti combined both Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Multispectral Imaging (optical sensors) on a single platform for all-weather, day-and-night imaging for the first time. Mission Drishti addressed a long-standing limitation in earth observation – data gaps caused by cloud cover or poor lighting – by enabling seamless imaging regardless of the weather or time of day. This capability improved reliability and frequency of satellite-based intelligence for applications ranging from defence and disaster management to agriculture and infrastructure planning.
