The demo satellite is intended to fly aboard the Indian Space Research Organisation’s PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM) platform in the third week of December, along with other commercial players.
The startup, which has named the project ‘Varuna Mission’, aims to offer a persistent monitoring system to track ship movements, detect oil spills and geo-fencing critical infrastructure such undersea cables and pipelines every 30 minutes with 100% ocean coverage. Currently conventional satellites don’t provide this service through cloud cover, extreme weather and during night-time.
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing activities are responsible for the loss of 11–26 million tonnes of fish each year, which is estimated to have an economic value of $10–23 billion.
The startup is cofounded by former ISRO scientist Gaurav Seth and former National Instruments engineer Vineet Bansal.
Speaking to ET ahead of the announcement of the demo launch, Bansal said: “Our 6U CubeSat, roughly the size of a shoebox, is equipped with a unique foldable reflector antenna that expands in space for SAR (synthetic aperture radar) imaging which is our proprietary innovation.” The mission will de-risk and validate key radar subsystems, he said.
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The satellite has been indigenously developed under nine months, the startup said. The demo will be followed by the establishment of a constellation of SAR and automatic identification system satellites, aimed at providing persistent, near-real-time monitoring of all human activity at sea.“Once proven, we’ll replicate these for a full constellation capable of detecting every vessel and iceberg on Earth within minutes which is greater than 10 metres in size — something not achievable with traditional imaging methods today,” Bansal added.
The startup has already signed up 10 organisations including government agencies, hedge funds, shipliners and marine border protection agencies like the Indian Coast Guard and naval forces.
According to a Global Market Insights report, the global satellite vessel tracking market was valued at $145.6 million in 2024 and is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 16.5% from 2025 to 2034.
PierSight will build software systems for the data and integrate with its systems.
The company is also offering an early access programme, allowing customers to quickly onboard data into its software. The startup hinted at another niche constellation that is currently in the R&D stage and will be launched after the maritime constellation is set.
