Tata deploys its geospatial satellite in space on Space X's Falcon 9 rocket

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Tata Company launched India's first private commercial satellite TSAT 1A as part of the Bandwagon 1 mission. The satellite was deployed by Space X's Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Tata Control Center took control of the satellite in 400 km low earth orbit. The satellite is owned by Tata Advanced Systems Limited, a subsidiary of Tata Sons.

Tata Advanced Systems Limited is a company operating in the space and defense sector. The satellite was launched in collaboration with Uruguay-based French company Satellogic.

The 50 kg TSAT was assembled at Tata Group's Assembly Integration and Testing (AIT) centre in Vemagal, Karnataka. In November 2023, TASL also signed an agreement with Satellogic to develop an Earth observation satellite. TSAT-1A is a submetre resolution satellite. That is, the mission is to produce images that can clearly identify objects smaller than one meter. Satellites for defense and strategic purposes have a resolution of one meter to 30 centimeters. It also helps in identifying the smallest objects. The images obtained from TSAT have a resolution of 0.5 to 8 meters. The Tata company also said that it can be increased to super resolution from 0.5 to 0.6 meters using software.

Tata Company hopes that the Indian Armed Forces will utilize the service in the near future.