New Delhi

The success of Indian space startup Digantara's Space Camera for Object Tracking (SCOT) mission is important to the growing space industry in India, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday.

Digantara launched its SCOT satellite aboard SpaceX'sTransporter-12 mission on Wednesday to enhance space safety and track Resident Space Objects (RSOs). Mission SCOT is a commercial space-based surveillance mission that will change how humanity operates in space. Built to detect and catalog objects moving at orbital speeds, paving a way for safer, more secure space operations.

On Thursday, the company announced the success of the mission.

"Kudos to Indian space startup Digantara at the success of Mission SCOT," said PM Modi in a post on social media platform X on Friday.

"This is an important contribution of the growing Indian space industry towards enhancing space situational awareness," he added.

Mission SCOT is the world's first commercial Space Situational Awareness (SSA) satellite. It will monitor Low Earth Orbit (LEO) with improved efficiency.

Backed by Aditya Birla Ventures and SIDBI, it aims to support national security and space operations.

It will ensure surveillance of objects as small as 5 cm orbiting the Earth to ensure safer space operations.

"Mission SCOT has successfully established contact with our ground station! Solar panel arrays are deployed, power levels are positive, and stabilisation is on point," Digantara said on X.

🛰️ Mission SCOT has successfully established contact with our ground station! Solar panel arrays are deployed, power levels are positive, and stabilization is on point.

Our focus now shifts to commissioning the satellite, preparing it for its core mission: precise object… pic.twitter.com/C551SqjsSr

— Digantara (@Digantarahq) January 16, 2025

The company noted that its focus now shifted to commissioning the satellite, preparing it for its core mission: precise object tracking and imaging in LEO.

Earlier, the company was also lauded by BJP leader Rajeev Chandrashekhar.

"Wonderful!!! Congrats Digantara you make us proud and you did this on #National Startup Day," he said on X.

On the same day, Bengaluru-based Pixxel also launched its first three satellites of its Firefly constellation -- India's 1st private satellite constellation.

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The satellites were integrated via Exolaunch and launched aboard the Transporter-12 rideshare mission with SpaceX from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, US.