Grahaa Space’s Solaras Nanosatellite Completes Mission Siddhi Objectives

Hyderabad: Grahaa Space, a space tech start-up, announced the successful completion of Mission SIDDHI, with its technology demonstration nanosatellite SOLARAS achieving all planned objectives in the low Earth orbit (LEO). The mission was part of the historic launch of Vikram-1 by Skyroot Aerospace later this week.

In a statement, Grahaa said SOLARAS had successfully transmitted telemetry signals confirming healthy spacecraft operation, and it has been well received and verified by the Telemetry and Analytics for RF Acquisition, Networking, and Ground station (TARANG) established at the Small-Spacecraft Systems and Payload Centre (SSPACE) within the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST).

It said multiple amateur ground stations worldwide also had received the signals across successive passes, reaffirming the satellite's in-orbit performance.

Grahaa space said the mission validated its indigenous, stackable nanosatellite bus and platform, along with its onboard systems and subsystems, under real space conditions. SOLARAS also successfully transmitted payload data — an important milestone in the company's effort to build reliable, scalable nanosatellite technologies.

Ramesh Kumar V., co-founder and CEO, Grahaa Space, said, "Mission SIDDHI is a proud milestone for our team. We set out to prove that an indigenously designed nano satellite platform could perform successfully in orbit, and SOLARAS has done exactly that.”

He thanked the Skyroot Aerospace team for deploying SOLARAS into its intended orbit during its maiden mission, the Space Technology Innovation and Incubation Cell (STIIC) of the IIST-Thiruvananthapuram for their support throughout development, qualification and post-launch signal verification. He credited IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) for their continued handholding, guidance and support.

“We also thank the global amateur radio community for helping validate our telemetry. This is not just the completion of one mission—it's the foundation for many more, as we are building Earth observation nanosatellite technologies from India for the world," CEO Kumar said

He said Mission SIDDHI marked a key step toward Grahaa Space's vision of cost-efficient, scalable nanosatellite platforms delivering near-real-time geospatial video data from the low Earth orbit.

Asked about reports claiming to the contrary, Ramesh Kumar told Deccan Chronicle: “Some amount of tumbling post deployment is normal for a 1U nanosatellite and is part of orbital deployment phase. SOLARAS has successfully achieved its planned mission objectives, and we continue to receive signals from it.”