From Space Diagnostics To Earth Observation, India's New Space Economy Is Not Just About Going To Space

 

 

Bengaluru: India’s new space economy is evolving beyond the race to build rockets, satellites and other hardware towards redefining what that infrastructure can enable on Earth. India’s space industry is now focused on making advanced technologies smaller, more affordable, accessible, exportable, and globally competitive.

India’s space ecosystem is expanding rapidly, from AntarikshHAB’s development of an inflatable space habitat designed to enable future human habitation and activities in space, Skyroot Aerospace’s push to develop private launch capability and Astrobase’s work on a reusable rocket engine, to near-space balloon platforms opening new possibilities between Earth and orbit. Meanwhile, Inbound Aerospace, an IIT Madras-incubated startup, is developing a reusable re-entry spacecraft to return payloads, samples, and products from Low Earth Orbit, addressing a key gap in orbital logistics. Its platform is aimed at supporting microgravity research, in-orbit technology demonstrations, and in-space manufacturing, with applications spanning pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and advanced materials.

 

As space technology starts addressing problems back on Earth, a more interesting shift starts to emerge. The MoU between Redcliffe Labs and Skyroot Aerospace marks a significant step in taking diagnostic science beyond conventional laboratories and into Low Earth Orbit, combining Redcliffe Labs’ diagnostic expertise with Skyroot’s spaceflight capabilities to generate flight-heritage data that could help develop more resilient diagnostic technologies for challenging environments on Earth.

Under DRIFT-1, Redcliffe Labs’ dry diagnostic reagents will spend 90 days in space alongside an identical ground control to study how the space environment affects their stability and performance. Comparing the orbital samples with the ground control samples will help identify what changes and why. It also opens avenues for future space-enabled diagnostics and point-of-care solutions for human spaceflight, including missions such as Gaganyaan and the Bharatiya Antariksh Station.

 

“For us, the immediate outcome is the evidence and flight-heritage dataset that comes from this experiment. The real value is not simply proving that a reagent can go to space, but what that experience can teach us. This becomes particularly meaningful in places where conventional infrastructure or cold-chain facilities are difficult to maintain, including rural settings,” said Aditya Kandoi, Founder & CEO, Redcliffe Labs.

If DRIFT-1 gives us the insights we are looking for, the next phase would be to build on those learnings and explore applications in space-enabled diagnostics, astronaut health, point-of-care testing, life sciences, and microgravity research. The timeline will depend on the mission schedule and analysis following the 90-day test, said Kandoi.

 

The compact, indigenously developed payload demonstrates how miniaturisation could make advanced Earth-observation capabilities feasible on smaller satellites. Lighter payloads can ease satellite integration, reduce mission costs, accommodate more payloads per launch, and potentially enable more frequent Earth-observation (EO) data collection. EON Space Labs is integrating nine-band multispectral imaging into a 502-gram payload for applications including agriculture, environmental monitoring, disaster management, and defence.

Similarly, SatLeo Labs is using thermal satellite data to monitor temperature variations, with applications ranging from agriculture and crop stress to urban heat mapping and climate monitoring.

 

“The value of space data lies in turning it into actionable information, helping farmers identify crop stress, authorities track floods, organisations monitor forests, and agencies assess infrastructure and security risks. This is creating opportunities across precision agriculture, climate monitoring, disaster management, urban planning, infrastructure monitoring, and defence,” noted Punit Badeka, Co-Founder, EON Space Labs.

Badeka added that the government is also encouraging private participation in Earth observation through a new Public-Private Partnership framework, under which private companies can design, build, own, and operate EO satellite constellations, with the government helping to create demand and facilitate access to data. The first commercial EO constellation is expected to involve more than Rs 1,200 crore in private investment, with satellites manufactured domestically and launched on Indian rockets.

 

Covering optical, multispectral, hyperspectral, and SAR imaging, the initiative marks a shift towards a commercial, end-to-end Indian Earth-observation ecosystem. He said, “Our technology is essentially dual-use, with applications across defence and commercial sectors, and we are closely linked with the iDEX programme. The imaging systems can support monitoring of forests, water bodies, floods, fires, and land-use changes, as well as homeland security.”

Kandoi added, “DRIFT-1 is the first step towards a broader space-health platform, where space-generated knowledge can advance healthcare, life sciences, and biotechnology. Diagnostics is one such opportunity.”

These ventures point to a larger transformation: space is no longer just a destination, but a laboratory, infrastructure layer and commercial platform. The real opportunity lies in what India can learn in orbit, bring back to Earth and turn into globally competitive solutions.

 

EON Space Labs is developing indigenous EO/IR imaging payloads for space, aerial and ground applications, with a focus on compact, lightweight and mission-specific systems. It is also developing Germanium-free thermal optics to reduce dependence on imported components and critical materials. “Indigenisation isn’t about simply replacing imports; it is about building core technology in India, reducing supply-chain vulnerabilities and combining miniaturisation with end-to-end integration to develop mission-specific imaging systems,” Badeka said. For EON Space Labs, this means developing indigenous imaging technologies that compete on performance, size, cost and reliability, while reducing dependence on imports and strengthening India’s position in the global space and aerospace ecosystem.

EON is commercialising EO/IR products, including LUMIRA, across space, aerial, and ground applications, with the next focus on scaling production, deployments, and international markets. The objective is to build a global imaging technology company from India, taking indigenously developed EO/IR capabilities to customers worldwide. The wider opportunity is to strengthen domestic manufacturing and build technologies that can be exported globally.