Indian startup PierSight unveils 1st all-weather maritime surveillance satellite

New Delhi, Nov 20 Indian space tech startup PierSight on Wednesday announced the Varuna satellite that will deliver 24/7 all-weather maritime surveillance.

The Varuna mission that aims to redefine maritime intelligence with an in-orbit demonstration of groundbreaking imaging technology is the first step by PierSight to establish a constellation of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Automatic Identification System (AIS) satellites.

The SAR & AIS satellite constellation will provide 100 per cent ocean coverage with up to 30-minute revisit times. Unlike conventional optical satellites, Synthetic Aperture Radars aboard the satellite can see even through cloud cover, extreme weather, and nighttime. This enables PierSight’s dedicated maritime-focused constellation to offer persistent monitoring, a vital tool to accurately track ship movements, detect oil spills, and geo-fencing critical infrastructure such as undersea cables and pipelines.

Developed in an unprecedented nine months, Varuna is equipped with breakthrough technologies, including a SAR system in CubeSAT format and an indigenously developed reflectarray antenna, showcasing the first private SAR satellite in-orbit demonstration from India.

"Technology readiness level (TRL) is defined on a scale of 1 to 9 (with 9 being the highest). With Varuna, we will achieve TRL-9 for all subsystems. This will demonstrate flightworthiness for all future missions," said Vinit Bansal, CTO and Co-founder, PierSight.

PierSight is co-founded by ex-ISRO scientist Gaurav Seth and Bansal who is an ex-national instruments engineer.

The satellite features a deployable reflectarray antenna and a modular Software-Defined Radar & Radio (SDRR), innovations crucial for enhancing satellite adaptability and future operational needs.

Varuna also exemplifies PierSight's rapid deployment capabilities, setting new standards in the industry where 18-24 months is the norm.

"This rapid development demonstrates our ability to respond swiftly to the urgent needs for environmental and security surveillance," said Gaurav Seth, CEO and Co-founder of PierSight.

"We are setting new standards in the industry by rapidly advancing from concept to flight-readiness in such a short span. Our existing and potential customers are interested in launch-on-demand capabilities; Varuna is a demonstration of this capability."

Varuna will fly aboard the ISRO’s PSLV launcher as a secondary payload aboard the POEM platform. ISRO is yet to announce the date, however, it is slated for launch within the year.