Mention salient features of ‘Mission Drishti’. Discuss the imaging techniques used in the satellite launched on 3rd May 2026. Why it is being considered world’s first satellite of its kind ?

Answer outline

Introduction

Mission Drishti, launched on 3 May 2026 from California on a SpaceX Falcon 9, is the largest Earth observation satellite built by a private Indian company and is described as the world’s first OptoSAR satellite.

Salient features

• Built by GalaxEye, a private Indian space startup; mass about 190 kg.
• Sun-synchronous low Earth orbit at about 500 km; revisit of about 4 days.
• Payload combines SAR and multispectral imaging (MSI); spatial resolution of 1.2 to 3.6 m, which the company says is the highest among Indian private players.
• Launched from SLC-4E, California, on the Falcon 9 CAS500-2 mission at 12:30 pm IST on 3 May 2026.
• The Vice President called it a significant step forward for India’s commercial space ecosystem, and the Prime Minister also praised the launch.

Imaging technique 1: Synthetic Aperture Radar

• SAR is an active microwave sensor: it sends radar pulses and records echoes; the satellite’s motion synthesises a long antenna to give high resolution.
• Works day and night and through cloud, smoke and rain; Drishti uses the X-band, suitable for fine detail.
• Images show surface roughness and structure, useful for ships, floods and infrastructure, but are hard for non-experts to interpret.

Imaging technique 2: Multispectral optical imaging

• A passive sensor records reflected sunlight in PAN, RGB, near infrared, coastal blue and red-edge bands.
• Gives intuitive colour images and vegetation, water and soil indices, but needs daylight and clear skies.

Why world’s first: OptoSAR fusion

• GalaxEye says Drishti is the first to combine MSI and SAR on a single platform; images from separate satellites are taken at different times and geometries and must be co-registered later.
• Drishti carries both on one platform and produces fused, analysis-ready imagery that is inherently aligned, combining SAR’s all-weather reliability with optical readability.
• This all-weather, day-and-night fused product is the basis of the company’s and government’s 'world’s first OptoSAR' description.

Applications and significance

• Border and maritime surveillance, disaster response during monsoon cloud cover, agriculture and insurance, urban and infrastructure monitoring.
• Shows the result of opening the space sector to private firms and adds sovereign commercial imaging capacity.

Conclusion

Mission Drishti shows that Indian private industry can build advanced Earth observation satellites; its real test will be a constellation that delivers fused, frequent and affordable data for security, disasters and the economy.