India’s Push for a Globally Competitive Earth Observation Stack

In this edition of Kalaari’s DeepTech Dispatch we unpack Earth observation – what Earth observation is, its growing relevance, the tech stack that powers it and the emerging start-up opportunities.

In July 2025, India launched NISAR, the world’s first dual frequency (L-band+S-band) SAR satellite - built by NASA and ISRO enabling continuous, all-weather monitoring of earth’s surface with centimetre-level precision. Weeks later, a ₹1,200+ crore PPP contract was awarded to a consortium of four Indian startups (Pixxel, Dhruva Space, Piersight, SatSure) to build a 12-satellite Earth Observation constellation, expanding India’s capability, capacity and commercial opportunity. These milestones signal a decisive shift in India’s EO ambitions setting the stage for a globally competitive EO stack.

Decoding Earth Observation

Ever wondered how we keep watch over our land, oceans, borders, and even forecast the weather from miles above? The answer lies in Earth Observation (EO) - the quiet force shaping defence, farming, infrastructure, and climate resilience. EO simply means the science and technology of observing our planet from above and translating that data into insights we can act on.

Multiple platforms are used to observe earth: Satellites are the always-on eyes, sweeping the planet on repeat orbits and covering large swaths of area - even over remote regions. Aerial platforms - drones, aircrafts, helicopters step in when you need closer detail over smaller areas. These platforms use optical cameras and other sensors to capture data points like light intensity, surface temperature, moisture levels, radio emissions and elevation points. Together, they create a dependable flow of geospatial data that can be turned into meaningful decisions.

What has brought EO to the centre of global attention?

EO isn’t new - governments have long used satellites to map terrain and monitor weather. But in the past few years, EO markets are moving from niche to the centre of the growing space economy:

The reason? A powerful technology convergence.

Space has become more accessible - Satellites have become smaller and modular thanks to miniaturisation and standardized architectures like CubeSats & MicroSats. At the same time, launch has become dramatically cheaper dropping to nearly $1,000/kg driven by reusable rockets, rideshare missions, and vertical integration by launch providers. This has led to the commercialization of Low Earth Orbit (LEO - much closer to earth <2000kms) enabling high-resolution data capture, lower latency, faster revisit rates (how often satellite checks in on a location) making a wide range of applications now possible.

Data-driven decision-making - The other side of the convergence story is what happens after data is captured. A major value shift is coming from our ability to take raw satellite observations, add context, and turn them into decision-ready intelligence for different industries. Our capability to process large (and multi-modal) datasets quicker, cheaper and more accurately has increased significantly with advances in computing and AI. For example, edge computing allows satellites to perform basic processing onboard before it even reaches the ground reducing bandwidth needs and gets cleaner data to users faster; while AI techniques like embeddings enable pattern-based analysis across petabytes of EO data without comparing every pixel, cutting both compute cost and processing time. This has made EO far easier for industries to operationalize, expanding the value they can unlock.

So how does EO actually work?

At one level, it sounds simple: satellites capture images, data is processed, and insights are generated. But what does that look like in practice? Think of it as a three-layer flow:

Data Capture: EO data is captured using different sensors, each suitable for different applications. These sensors work by detecting electromagnetic radiation – with different sensors giving different details or information.

• Multispectral/Hyperspectral sensors are like optical cameras giving us day-light visuals revealing spectral features.

• Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) on the other hand provides black & white imagery all day/night across weather conditions and cloud cover, mapping surface changes, delineating boundaries.

• Radio Frequency (RF) sensors pick up communication signals from earth that help identify and pinpoint on-ground location of assets.

• Thermal Infrared (TIR) sensor sees heat and provides a temperature map of the desired area.

• LiDAR sensors help create a 3D visualization of the area under focus.

These datasets captured from space are then downlinked to earth for further processing.

Data Processing: Raw data feeds are huge and often messy - clouds may hide parts of the image, shadows distort surfaces, and different sensors capture data at different angles and times. This is where data processing becomes critical. The multi-modal datasets from different sensors are cleaned and fused along with ground sensor data so they line up accurately in space and time providing a comprehensive view of the area of interest.

The output is an analysis-ready data cube that can be used to generate precise, application specific insights.

Data Intelligence: The final step is turning this processed data into decision-grade intelligence. Domain-specific models are applied to answer real operational questions - estimate crop stress, map flood extent, detect vessel anomalies in maritime, or monitoring infrastructure change. This is where EO data gets combined with industry context to power solutions like insurance risk scoring to precision farming to climate resilience tools.

Take the case of monitoring our farms. Optical sensors are used to capture visual images of croplands highlighting features like vegetation and crop health. Thermal sensors create a heat map of farms indicating areas prone to water stress. Agri Input companies can use the crop health data to sell the right products to the farmer; while insurance companies can estimate the farm yield, understand drought situation in the region to tailor their products.

This end-to-end stack is what forms the EO value chain. Across industries from Agriculture and Maritime to Defense, Infrastructure, Mining and Climate - the global spend already exceeds $125B on the very problems EO can help solve: monitoring assets, border surveillance, managing risks, planning infrastructure, improving productivity, and responding to environmental change. Yet the EO imagery and analytics market is still only $6B today.

This delta is the story: demand is growing, adoption is still catching up, and the opportunity is wide open.

And as every sector begins to adopt EO, a large global opportunity opens up for startups to build the platforms, sensors, and applications that will power this next wave of Earth intelligence.

The Need for a Sovereign EO stack

India is among the fastest growing major economies, with trillions being invested in Infrastructure, Defense and Agriculture. EO data is already a critical input for the success of many national-scale projects:

• PM Gati Shakti is India’s vision for a unified Master plan for multi-modal connectivity to provide a single window unified planning across railways, roads, ports, waterways, airports and logistics hubs. To enable this, PM Gati shakti uses EO data from ISRO and GIS tools to create a comprehensive, multi-layered view of India’s infrastructure, enabling data-driven planning, real-time monitoring, and synchronized development of transport, utilities, and economic zones reducing conflicts and delays.

• Under AgriStack, a ₹2,817 crore Digital Agriculture Mission is using EO to build village-level maps, digital crop surveys, and farmer decision systems that can enhance farm productivity and climate resilience.

• India’s Smart Cities are embedding EO into their operations, using satellites for air-quality mapping, heat-island monitoring, and environmental planning - with ₹4,500 crore earmarked to making city management more predictive and data-driven.

• GNSS-based tolling (Global Navigation Satellite System) will transform how India collects tolls, shifting to distance-based, EO-enabled satellite tolling, ensuring smoother movement, reduced congestion, and precise billing.

• EO is a critical pillar for national security. Defense and ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance) continue to be major demand drivers, with a $3B outlay for space-based monitoring, maritime domain awareness, and secure intelligence networks.

EO data & intelligence is increasingly becoming a critical capability, driving decision making and projects of national importance across industries. But, for a country of this scale and ambition, India’s current EO capacity is modest. We operate just 24 active EO satellites (as of 2023) and depend on foreign providers for nearly 80% of high-resolution data.

In an era of climate volatility, contested borders, and shifting global supply chains, relying on foreign satellites for critical data is a risk we can’t afford. Access can be throttled, prices can surge, or licenses withheld in moments of crisis, leaving critical pillars of our economy - defense, agriculture and infrastructure blind. Our EO capabilities now need capacity expansion and modernization to meet the country’s growing data needs across sectors – and that is where the opportunity lies.

Mapping the Start-up Opportunity in EO

India’s growing need for domestic Earth observation capabilities opens up an opportunity for Indian startups to build large EO companies that can capture domestic demand and also scale globally. With space privatisation, ISRO’s enabling ecosystem, deep technical talent, and access to world-class infrastructure, a new generation of founders are emerging in this domain.

The EO opportunity can broadly be bucketed basis the part of the value chain that is targeted:

Vertically Integrated Solutions - Owning the entire EO value chain - build and operate satellites, manage data pipelines, and deliver insights directly to end users - remains a large and growing opportunity. Demand is rising for higher revisit rates, finer resolution and more diverse sensor combinations across RF, thermal, optical, hyperspectral and SAR. There are early companies building in this space, and continued whitespace will emerge as technology and market needs evolve.

Sensor design & manufacturing - Hardware remains a deep-tech moat. Developing specialized payloads - compact, high-resolution optical imagers, miniaturized SAR antennas, thermal and infrared detectors, and next-generation RF payloads, requires specialized expertise. Developing these critical components locally can lower satellite costs, enable new constellations and support applications from precision agriculture and climate monitoring to maritime surveillance and urban infrastructure mapping.

Beyond data capture, we also see potential to create significant value downstream.

Data Processing platforms – The next opportunity sits in software. By fusing multi-sensor data from space, air, and ground into analysis-ready features, startups can offer “EO-as-a-Service” infrastructure that others build on. With today’s EO ecosystem lacking interoperability across providers, platforms that can ingest and standardize multi-modal datasets hold a unique advantage. These systems reduce friction, accelerate adoption, and can scale rapidly when embedded in enterprise or government workflows.

Vertical-Specific Applications - This is the layer that turns EO into business value: translating EO intelligence into domain-specific products that power everyday decisions. Whether it’s insurance underwriting, ESG reporting, or logistics optimization, winners will be those who deeply understand industry pain points and weave EO seamlessly into existing systems.

EO Infrastructure

As earth observation capabilities and missions (hence number of assets in space) increase, it will also require further innovation on the infrastructure that will enable and support this growth. From building satellite subsystems, enabling efficient and safer constellation design, satellite operations and communication to compute infra – all these capabilities also open up opportunities to support a robust EO market.

Modular satellite buses and small-satellite architectures (CubeSats, MicroSats) will be critical as EO companies deploy more sensors. Standardized, plug-and-play buses shorten development cycles and reduce costs, making it easier and cheaper to deploy constellations. Evolution of sub-systems such as better ADCS systems, strong inter-satellite links will grow in demand as space becomes more accessible.

In-space computing will grow in importance as constellations scale. As compute technology (and the ability for radiation hardening/shielding) evolves, onboard compute capabilities will become critical - time tagging, filtering raw frames to pull out only the most significant features or patterns, or compressing data will help reduce bandwidth by downlinking only what’s necessary.

Ground stations are the critical link between space assets and earth – used for sending commands, communication and downlinking data from space-based assets. Growing space activity means that appropriate ground station infrastructure will be necessary - to keep up with higher communication/downlink frequency; while more distributed stations create opportunities for faster and more reliable data downlink.

Space domain awareness (SDA) is becoming indispensable as orbits grow crowded. SDA enables tracking of space objects (debris and other assets) and monitoring space weather – critical inputs that will become the starting point to efficient constellation design, safe and secure launches and satellite operations. Digantara (a Kalaari portfolio company), is developing global leadership in this domain – with a comprehensive SDA platform (that can track objects as small as 3cm) providing the infra layer for safe and secure space operations.

At Kalaari, we see EO as the frontier where space technology meets real-world demand. India’s domestic dual-use (defense and commercial industries) provides the perfect opportunity for India startups who can build and capture this domestic demand while also paving the path for global expansion. If you’re a company building in this space write to us at deeptech@kalaari.com.

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