Bengaluru: India is putting money into satellites that listen rather than look. The Technology Development Board (TDB), under the Department of Science and Technology, has signed an agreement with Bengaluru-based Astrome Technologies to give ₹64.05 crore for an indigenous space-based electronic intelligence satellite constellation.
The project's total estimated cost is ₹128.11 crore. The support comes from the government's Research, Development and Innovation Fund and will be routed as Optionally Convertible Debt, the Ministry of Science and Technology said.
The constellation will pair artificial intelligence with electronic intelligence, or ELINT — the business of picking up electronic signals and working out what they mean. The ministry lists signal detection, surveillance and data processing as the applications, with national security in view.
The programme aims to move the technology from readiness level 4 to level 9, which in plain terms means going from a system proven in a laboratory to one demonstrated in an operational setting.
The satellites themselves are small: about 50 kg each, flying in low Earth orbit as an interconnected constellation. More satellites mean wider coverage and more frequent passes over the same area, which is what persistent monitoring needs.
Three pieces make up the system. An indigenous ELINT payload will detect and analyse electronic signals across a broad frequency range. AI-based ground processing software will work through what the satellites collect. Inter-satellite communication links will let the spacecraft trade information and behave as one network.
The programme covers development, engineering, system integration, testing and validation before any of it is declared operational.
What the announcement does not say is how many satellites will eventually fly, when they will launch, or who will launch them. Astrome's earlier work has been in satellite communication, and the ministry's note frames this as a technology development programme rather than a deployment contract.
For a country that has leaned heavily on earth observation — cameras in the sky — a signal-detection layer is a different kind of capability. It is also one that is harder to buy off the shelf.