Divya Kothamasu and Raghuram Kothamasu, Co-Founders of the Hyderabad-based space tech startup N Space Tech, waited with bated breath as ISRO’s PSLV-C60 lifted off from the SHAR centre at Sriharikota on Monday night to launch the Space Gocking Experiment (SpaDeX). 

For them, the mission’s success marks a new ambitious journey as it is among the 24 payloads that the rocket is carrying would mean beginning a new journey in providing a faster and reliable communication for various applications on the ground.

The four-year-old startup has sent its maiden payload, SwetchaSAT-V0, to test an indigenously developed ultra-high frequency (UHF) communication, paving the way for faster, more reliable communication for various applications, including mobile and internet connectivity in remote areas.

The payload would use the advanced PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM-4) platform to test the communication capabilities. Developed completely in-house, the payload’s communication, power, and payload subsystems reflect a strong focus on indigenous innovation and engineering. 

“This is the first in a series of such missions in the future. The upcoming series will include more advanced communication modules and ground station technologies. These payloads aim to enhance communication capabilities across broader frequency ranges,” she said.

“This mission is a step toward creating solutions that strengthen industries and foster connectivity worldwide,” she said.

How it works

“The payload that we have designed and developed has an onboard computer, UHF communication module, power subsystem, and sensors. We’ll take the data from the sensors, and our onboard computer will process it and send it to the communication module. The communication module in the UHF band will send the data to our ground station and its antenna,” she said.

“This is a technology demonstration for the UHF band. Once it is successful, we are planning to build up to KU band communication system,” she added.

The end-user can be any government or private user who needs data transfer. From the schematic design to the final assembly phase, everything is done indigenously by the startup. “Currently, the data rate is low. In the future, the data rates will be higher so that we can send a higher amount of data much faster,” she said..

The startup, which has 27 employees, invested $1 million so far. “We are investing around $2 million for a new testing and assembly facility; everything is bootstrapped,” she said.

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