Knowledge Nugget: What makes GalaxEye’s Drishti satellite first of its kind?

<p>Take a look at the essential concepts, terms, quotes, or phenomena every day and brush up your knowledge. Here’s your knowledge nugget on GalaxEye’s Drishti satellite for today.</p><p>First-of-its-kind satellite named Drishti by Indian start-up, GalaxEye, was launched on 3 May, 2026 by Falcon 9 rocket of SpaceX from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, United States, as one of the 45 payloads on the CAS500-2 mission.</p><p>Let’s learn what makes this satellite unique.</p><p>1. Imaging satellites are generally equipped to take multi-spectral or hyper-spectral (optical) images, or they use Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). Both of these kinds of satellite data are used extensively.</p><p>2. However, both of these imaging systems have their own limitations. Multi-spectral images are clear and easy to understand, but they are not effective during cloudy weather or night time, for instance. SAR signals can penetrate clouds and take continuous images, but they are not intuitive. Like X-ray images, they need experts to glean the information.</p><p>Drishti is the first satellite of GalaxEye, a company started by alumni of IIT Madras. (Credit: X/@GalaxEye) Drishti is the first satellite of GalaxEye, a company started by alumni of IIT Madras. (Credit: X/@GalaxEye)</p><p>3. SAR and optical sensors are designed in different ways. They look at the Earth at different angles (parallax). So, if they are placed side by side, for example, the optical sensor might be looking at Bengaluru while SAR is capturing Dubai at that instant. There is issue of capture time (temporal gaps) as well which create problems in mission-critical applications.</p><p>4. To solve this issue and get clear and intuitive images from space, Indian start-up, GalaxEye, designed the Drishti satellite where both imaging sensors are put on the satellite and operate in sync with each other to produce simultaneous imaging of the same place. This eliminates the need for users to manually align datasets from two different satellites.</p><p>ALSO READ | NCRB data: 10 key takeaways you must know</p><p>5. Drishti satellite combines the clarity of Optical Imaging with the all-weather reliability of SAR on a single platform to deliver intuitive, reliable, all-weather Earth imagery that is already analysis-ready. For this reason, the company is describing its innovation as Opto-SAR technology.</p><p>UPSC ESSENTIALS DRISHTI system of Indian Railways Story continues below this ad Similar name but completely different functionality, so don’t get confused. Indian Railways is planning to install Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based technology-DRISHTI- to enhance the safety of freight trains. It is expected to bring greater transparency, visibility and technological assurance to the freight security system. This new AI-based Locking Monitoring System ‘DRISHTI’ will reduce the traditionally manual checks which are not only time-consuming but also impractical for long-haul rakes under dynamic conditions.