Davos/New Delhi:
Space surveillance and intelligence company Digantara got the idea to track objects in space after seeing the huge problem of space debris, founder and CEO Anirudh Sharma told Our in Davos.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had congratulated the Digantara team on the success of 'Mission SCOT' as “an important contribution of the growing Indian space industry to increasing situational awareness in space.”
“I started this company with no background in space technology. So this was more of an accident for me when I was building a satellite as part of the ISRO Student Satellite Launch Program. We came up with the idea of tracking space objects because there one of the satellites we launched when students were hit by space debris,” 26-year-old Sharma told Our at the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, attended by some of the world's greatest leaders and thinkers are.
“Then we realized that the problem of space debris is big. We need to work on solutions for traffic management in space, just as we have air traffic management for the aviation industry. We needed a similar solution for space,” the young space technology entrepreneur told Our. .
“This mission is mainly about tracking objects in space in a simple way. What we are building are maps, but for space, by tracking every single object in orbit. We are building a library for use in developing navigation aids for satellite operations,” Mr Sharma said.
Digantara announced on January 16 that 'Mission SCOT' had successfully established contact with its ground station. The spacecraft deployed solar panels, reported positive energy levels and good stabilization.
Mr Sharma said there are many satellites in the sky right now, and most of them are commercial, so there should be a solution to track them.
“Initially it was very difficult for us to find infrastructure where we could build these solutions. Later we were incubated by the Indian Institute of Science and they also invested in us. So that was the first step we did to build credibility as founders of building something for the country and building solutions in the space technology ecosystem. The second is venture capital financing,” said Sharma.
He said they eventually managed to get funding from Sequoia Capital India, which is now Peak 15 Partners, Kalari Capital, and “good people who invested in our company”.
On the security implications of the project, Mr Sharma said: “One of the things we do, in addition to tracking space objects, is to anticipate movements of adversary satellites by tracking them. This is very important from a national security point of view, because geopolitically we have seen a lot of wars and a lot of wars are related to space.”
With satellites in orbit that can monitor a specific part of the country, Sharma says the company helps authorities understand when a satellite would pass over that area, and when it wouldn't.
“For that we need intelligence where we track these objects and understand how close they come to a particular satellite of ours or to the ground location where it is now. Providing insights into the movement of hostile satellites is something we do for national security,” Sharma said.
He said Team Digantara has 100 people, the oldest of which is 76 years old, has experience working with the US government and is the American hand of the company. Many former ISRO scientists are also working with Digantara in India, Mr Sharma added.
The five-day meeting in Davos that started today will explore how to restart growth, leverage new technologies and strengthen social and economic resilience, the World Economic Forum said. Nearly 3,000 leaders from more than 130 countries, including 350 heads of government, are participating in the global meeting.
India's participation in Davos aims to strengthen partnerships, attract investments and position the country as a global leader in sustainable development and technological innovation. India sent five Union ministers, three chief ministers and ministers from several other states to the WEF this time.