A Student-Founded Space Startup to help Farmers in India
Space Startup Spotlight: Pixxel
Pixxel is an Indian Space Startup developing nano-satellites (CubeSats) whose aim is to capture high-resolution imagery and data of all locations on Earth. Their first satellite, due to launch in early 2020, will offer real-time data accessible by all but mainly focused on the farming & agriculture industries. It’s also hoped to be useful for climate monitoring, crop yields, and even urban and disaster response planning.
Pixxel plans to launch further nano-satellites into space, creating their own constellation of these small and affordable nano-satellites, eventually becoming a data provider that can offer real-time information on situations that influence the environment and economy of all nations.
The history of Pixxel
Pixxel was founded in 2018 by two enterprising 21-year old Indian university students — Awais Ahmed (CEO) and Kshitij Khandelwal (CTO). The space entrepreneurs founded the company during their final year at India’s BITS in Pilani.
Both Ahmed and Khandelwal have a shared passion for space, technology, and the space industry. Their idea to launch Pixxel came to them while working on an IBM Watson XPrize project. It was a five-million-dollar contest that invited teams from around the world to use IBM Watson AI technology to help solve the world’s most significant challenges that could benefit humanity.
At the time, Ahmed and Khandelwal wanted to use satellite imagery to benefit the agricultural industry using AI. They tried to analyze nutrient and moisture content in the soil and analyze other crop health data, but the imagery available could not provide that information. At best, it could only give a general overview of crop health.
Frustrated with the lack of data commercially available to them, Ahmed and Khandelwal decided to tackle the problem themselves. They decided to work towards a way of generating the high-resolution imagery needed for such AI data reporting, and so the idea of Pixxel, a “NewSpace” company, was born.
The idea of Pixxel’s constellations of nano-satellites is to provide comprehensive, real-time Earth observation. They aim to make the data available in the cloud, and clients can request data snapshots on a daily or weekly basis. Instead of offering customized solutions, Pixxel’s strategy is to empower data users with a viable platform to address their information needs.
Pixxel’s aim to transform real-time satellite data snapshots
Of course, starting such an ambitious yet achievable project wasn’t easy for the pair. Even though they are very talented university graduates, one thing Ahmed and Khandelwal lacked was the funds to launch their idea.
Thankfully, thanks to BITS alumni, they were successful at securing a round of angel investor funding. They now have the resources to develop and launch into space their first satellite, one of many they aim to send into space.
Mapping the globe on a daily basis is only the beginning of Pixxel’s plans. As the company grows, they hope to use the same nano-satellite technology for mapping resources on the Moon and Mars. They also hope to pursue further space exploration and provide detailed imagery and data elsewhere in our solar system.
You can learn more about Pixxel at their website and through their social media outlets: Linkedin | Twitter
