Digantara Research and Technologies is on a mission to bring order to the increasingly crowded space environment. Co-founders Anirudh Sharma, Rahul Rawat, and Tanveer Ahmed started the company in 2018 while still in college, inspired by a satellite club in Bengaluru. With incubation and grant support from IISc, the team officially launched Digantara in 2020.
Today, the Bengaluru-based startup is emerging as a critical infrastructure provider, serving both commercial space enterprises and India’s strategic and defence needs.
A Navigation System for Space
“There are over 11,000 active satellites in orbit, and that number will only grow,” says CEO Anirudh Sharma. “We need a system to navigate and understand what’s happening up there—think of it as Google Maps for space.”
Unlike aviation and maritime navigation, space lacks globally recognized rules and regulatory bodies. With geopolitical tensions making international accords unlikely, companies like Digantara are stepping in to fill the gap.
From Situational Awareness to Space Domain Awareness
Digantara’s work goes beyond simply tracking space objects. The company is developing technologies for Space Situational Awareness (SSA)—monitoring objects in orbit—and Space Domain Awareness (SDA), which provides a comprehensive understanding of all activities in space.
To achieve this, Digantara is developing two software platforms:
- Space-MAP (Space Mission Assurance Platform): Helps satellite operators navigate space safely.
- STARS (Space Threat Assessment and Response Suite): Assesses potential threats in orbit, with a defence-oriented application.
Building a Space Intelligence Network
Over the past year, Digantara has been developing critical hardware and software components, including:
- Electro-optical sensors for tracking space objects. These will be deployed via a combination of space-based systems and ground-based telescopic observatories. The first observatory is being set up in Ladakh.
- A data library sourced from its own sensors, government agencies, and commercial sources to provide deep analytics.
- A cloud-based software platform that will eventually evolve into a fully automated satellite operations management system.
In early 2024, Digantara inaugurated a 25,000 sq ft assembly and testing facility in Bengaluru. Among its international clients is Singapore Space and Technology, which uses Digantara’s datasets to train machine learning algorithms. Additionally, the startup has signed a contract with Australia’s Space Machines Company to supply optical sensors under the AUD 8.5 million MAITRI initiative.
The Road Ahead
Digantara plans to offer its software platforms as a cloud-based service, with long-term ambitions of developing a fully automated satellite operations platform.
For defence applications, Digantara has already released version one of STARS, marking an important step in India’s growing focus on space security.
As space becomes increasingly congested, Digantara is positioning itself at the forefront of the emerging space intelligence industry—paving the way for safer and more efficient navigation of Earth’s orbit.
