Acquisition · Government, Defense & Space

GalaxEye acquires spacecraft engineering firm StarOps

By Startup Enthusiast · 10 August 2026

What they do

GalaxEye builds next-generation Earth observation satellites using its proprietary OptoSAR technology

It acquired StarOps, a Bengaluru-based spacecraft engineering company, about a month after losing contact with its maiden satellite

The acquisition aims to accelerate vertical integration and development of GalaxEye's planned OptoSAR satellite constellation

GalaxEye has acquired StarOps, a Bengaluru-based spacecraft engineering company.
The acquisition comes about a month after GalaxEye lost contact with its maiden satellite, Mission Drishti.
Mission Drishti was the world's first commercial satellite combining Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and multispectral imaging (MSI) on a single platform.
It was launched in May 2026 aboard a SpaceX mission.
A geomagnetic solar storm during the final stage of launch and early orbit phase caused the anomaly, with low chances of recovery.
The acquisition is intended to accelerate product development and vertical integration for GalaxEye's planned OptoSAR constellation.
GalaxEye plans to deploy a constellation of OptoSAR satellites for defence, national security, infrastructure monitoring, agriculture and commercial applications.

StarOps traces its origins to TeamIndus, India's first spacetech startup and a Google Lunar XPRIZE competitor.
Several StarOps team members previously worked at TeamIndus on Lunar Lander and Rover programmes.
StarOps developed satellite bus platforms in 50kg, 150kg and 250kg classes and indigenised more than 66% of components in its satellite systems.
India is emerging as one of the world's fastest-growing space economies.

GalaxEye builds next-generation Earth observation capabilities using proprietary OptoSAR technology.
OptoSAR combines Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and multispectral imaging (MSI) on a single satellite platform.
Mission Drishti was the world's first commercial multi-sensor satellite with SAR and 7-band MSI.
It offered fused resolution of 1.8 metres, SAR resolution up to 0.9 metres in Spotlight mode, and MSI native resolution of 3.6 metres GSD.
Mission Drishti was India's largest privately built satellite and delivered the highest-resolution imagery from any private player in India.
GalaxEye targets defence, national security, infrastructure monitoring, agriculture and commercial applications.
StarOps, founded in 2022, is a spacecraft engineering company with capabilities in propulsion, avionics, flight computing, guidance and navigation, structures and mechanisms, electrical systems, mission operations and ground operations.
StarOps developed satellite bus platforms in 50kg, 150kg and 250kg classes.
StarOps indigenised more than 66% of components in its satellite systems.

GalaxEye plans to deploy a constellation of OptoSAR satellites.
The acquisition accelerates product development and vertical integration for the OptoSAR constellation.

Product: OptoSAR satellites combining optical and synthetic aperture radar for all-weather day-and-night Earth observation capabilities
Customers: Government agencies, defense establishments, agriculture, insurance and disaster response sectors globally
How it makes money: B2G and B2B model providing satellite Earth observation data and services
What sets it apart: Proprietary OptoSAR technology enabling weather-agnostic imaging with 66% indigenization and reduced global supply chain dependence
Operations: Vertically integrated satellite design and manufacturing through acquisition of StarOps with in-house engineering capabilities