New Delhi: Agnikul Cosmos, India’s leading private full stack space transportation company, and ICEYE, the world leader in sovereign intelligence from space, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore the potential to build, launch and operate Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) earth observation systems from India.
Agnikul and ICEYE announced this at a globally significant event for India – BharatInnovates – which was held in Nice, France. The event which saw participation from President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, specifically had Agnikul Cosmos as the only launch vehicle builder from India showcasing its fully reusable rocket technology to the world.
The partnership aims to explore ICEYE’s SAR satellite expertise and its establishment of satellite manufacturing capabilities in India and Agnikul’s full stack responsive launch capabilities.
“Previously, building and launching a satellite system privately in India mostly meant piecing together foreign technology and waiting on 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.
“What makes this collaboration particularly exciting is that it goes beyond a single mission,” added Moin SPM, Co-founder and COO of Agnikul Cosmos. “By combining manufacturing, launch and operational capabilities under one ecosystem, we can create a repeatable model that can support long-term deployment programmes for customers in India and around the world. This is the kind of integrated infrastructure the global space industry increasingly demands.”
India is an important market for us as demand for sovereign intelligence capabilities continues to grow globally. Partnerships built around speed, reliability and long-term execution are becoming increasingly important in these times and this is what we seek to build with Agnikul,” said Rafał Modrzewski, co-founder and CEO of ICEYE.
For Agnikul, this adds ICEYE to a growing portfolio of international commercial partnerships spanning customers across India, the Middle East, and Australia, reinforcing Agnikul’s ambition to become one of the world’s leading space transportation companies.
For ICEYE, India represents a key Asia-Pacific manufacturing hub opportunity, producing satellites not just for domestic programmes but for global markets. ICEYE operates the world’s largest SAR satellite constellation, having launched over 70 satellites and has delivered sovereign satellite constellations to seven governments across Europe, including Poland within 12 months of contract signing, Sweden, and Germany.
The partnership brings together two technology forces from different continents, each world-class in its own domain. Agnikul contributes reusable launch infrastructure built around single-piece 3D-printed rocket engines that reduce manufacturing time from months to days, the kind of responsiveness that global satellite operators increasingly seek. ICEYE brings proven sovereign satellite technology that seven governments across Europe have already staked their national intelligence capabilities on, having delivered Poland’s sovereign SAR constellation less than 12 months after contract signing, one of the fastest sovereign satellite deployments globally. Together, the companies would combine responsive launch infrastructure with proven SAR technology to create a new model for sovereign space capabilities from India.
