Bengaluru: The Impact of climate change is real and is here. The world is experiencing extreme weather events- longer droughts and frequent floods.
At this critical moment, a Bengaluru based space-technology startup Pixxel Space is planning to solve some of the complex real world problems with the help of satellite imagery.
Started in 2019 by two BITS Pilani alumni Awais and Kshitij Khandelwal, Pixxel Space proposes to take high-resolution photos of every place on earth 24x7 with a constellation of nano-satellites revolving the earth.
In fact, Pixxel Space is one of the first few companies recently allowed to access ISRO's facilities and technical expertise by an agreement with New Space India Limited (NSIL).
The company is confident that it will launch its first remote sensing satellite on ISRO's launch vehicle PSLV in February 2021.
Speaking to ETV Bharat, Pixxel founder and CEO Awais Ahmed said: “Pixxel Space plans to send 32 satellite to space to take a high-quality picture anywhere on the earth at any time. We are planning to send our first Earth Observation Satellite on February 2021 through ISRO launch pad in Sriharikota. Within December 2021, we intend to send our second Satellite. In 2022 we will have the constellation of 32 Nano-satellites revolving around the earth.”
Basically, we are using much better cameras to remote sense earth that will have greater capabilities in monitoring Agriculture, Urban infrastructure, climate and forestry, he added.
“Our primary focus will be on Agri sector. We will monitor soil condition, crop health, nutrient deficiency, problems in irrigation, on a much large scale, in near real time basis. After obtaining the images, we will process it with our Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) models. With the help of AI models, we can find out diseases in crops, pesticide infestation, deficit irrigation. This will be done within 6-24 hours,” he said.
According to the Economic Survey of 2017-18, "Climate change could reduce annual agricultural incomes from 15% to 18%, and up to 20% to 25% for unirrigated areas". At this critical juncture India is opening ISRO's resources to private players.
“Our potential customers include both Government agencies and private companies. We have the scope to work with the Ministry of agricultre, Mining, Agri-related companies like seed companies, fertilizer companies, tractor companies and insurance companies,” Awais Ahmed concluded.
ALSO READ: NSIL joins hands with Pixxel to launch satellite in early 2021: ISRO
