ICEYE selects India for sovereign SAR mission; selects Agnikul Cosmos as a launch partner

Chennai-headquartered Agnikul Cosmos and ICEYE have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore the potential to build, launch and operate Artificial Aperture Radar (SAR) Earth observation systems from India. The MoU was signed at Bharat Innovates in Nice, France. “Previously, building and launching a satellite system privately in India mostly meant cobbling together foreign technology and waiting for timelines that we as a nation did not control,” said Srinath Ravichandran, co-founder and CEO of Agnikul Cosmos. “This partnership aims to change that equation. Applications such as disaster response, sensitive area monitoring and security are national priorities and India deserves sovereign capabilities to support them,” he adds.

“Global companies are now looking at India, through Agnikul, as a source of space technology capabilities. ICEYE looked at what was being built here and decided that Agnikul’s technology could take their SAR systems from manufacturing to launch and operation, entirely from India,” Moin SPM, Co-Founder and COO of Agnikul Cosmos told The Hindu. “We are now working on mission planning with ICEYE, and the intent from day one has been a repeatable model where each successful deployment accelerates the planning and execution of the next one. Once that is solidified, we will share details of the launch manifest,” he added. Mr Moin went on to say: “The SAR mission of this collaboration will fly on Agnibaan, our small satellite launch vehicle. It is designed to launch payloads such as SAR systems into orbit on demand, which is exactly the kind of specialized launch with mission configuration that such a sovereignty-sensitive program requires.”

Agnikul contributes reusable launch infrastructure built on one-piece 3D printed rocket motors that cut production times from months to days, the kind of response that global satellite operators are increasingly looking for. ICEYE brings proven sovereign satellite technology, on which seven governments across Europe have already staked their national intelligence capabilities, delivering Poland’s sovereign SAR constellation less than 12 months after the contract was signed, one of the fastest sovereign satellite deployments in the world. Together, the companies would combine sensitive firing infrastructure with proven SAR technology to create a new model for sovereign space capabilities from India.

“India is an important market for us as the demand for sovereign intelligence capabilities continues to grow globally. Partnerships built on speed, reliability and long-term execution are increasingly important at this time and that is what we are trying to build with Agnikul,” said Rafał Modrzewski, Co-Founder and CEO of ICEYE. ICEYE operates the world’s largest SAR satellite constellation, having launched over 70 satellites and delivered sovereign satellite constellations to seven governments across Europe, including Poland within 12 months of signing the contract, Sweden and Germany.

Plans for the future

When asked about Agnikul’s future plans, Mr Moin said: “We are doubling down on testing and improving our launch capabilities, going through validation work to get ready for orbit. In addition, we are scaling production, building manufacturing capacity and expanding our commercial pipeline with customers in India and abroad, including the kind of repeatable multi-mission partnership we are building with ICEYE.”

Agnikul Cosmos Private Limited is an IIT Madras-incubated company that builds space transportation. The company is currently developing fully reusable launch vehicles called Agnibaan that will be able to launch satellites into orbit on demand. Agnikul completed its first launch in 2024 from its own private launch pad and it also happens to be India’s first private launch pad. The launch was unique because it was a controlled launch that flew with one-piece 3D-printed engines that were designed and manufactured in-house and also used in-house autopilot algorithms to follow a pre-defined trajectory.

Published – 01 Jul 2026 0:08 IST