Indian startup Digantara is patenting a technology that would provide services like Google Maps for Space and this would help Space agencies and companies around the world navigate Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
Digantara, headquartered in Bengaluru, is the first company in the world dedicated to active Space surveillance in Space and Spatial Situational Awareness (SSA). Digantara will use lasers that can track objects continuously.
Additionally, the diverse team of Space architects, who created a suite of SSA solutions for centimeter-sized Resident Space Objects (RSO) modeling and Space weather in LEO, recently managed to secure patents for the key technology behind the solution.
“Space-MAP and 1st Launch Its Space Mission Assurance Platform (Space-MAP) is a comprehensive SSA solutions platform with three key technologies. The first component is Space-based Space Climate & Object Tracker (SCOT), an advanced Space surveillance sensor that tracks RSOs and Space weather aboard a constellation of satellites. The second is Orbital Engine (OrEng), a software package that transforms SCOT data into orbital information. Third, it’s Space-ADAPT, a conglomerate of products built from data derived from SCOT & OrEng,” Digantara CEO Anirudh Sharma was quoted as saying.
“SCOT is the patented Space-based Space surveillance sensor that generates two much-needed ingredients for effective SSA,” he said. Digantara, which will set up a constellation of SCOT-enabled satellites that will cover the entire LEO band, is in talks to launch its first satellite in the second half of 2022.
