HYDERABAD : Hyderabad-based space engineering solutions provider Dhruva Space has been granted authorisation by the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Center (IN-SPACe) to provide Ground Stations as a Service (GSaaS). The company has designed and developed six ground stations in Very High Frequency (VHF) and Ultra High Frequency (UHF) bands and two ground stations in S and/or X bands.
The S&X Ground Station at IIT-Hyderabad, established by Dhruva Space in 2021, is now a base of the company’s ground segment solutions. This facility will also play a pivotal role in supporting Dhruva Space’s upcoming LEAP-1 hosted payload mission scheduled for later in the year.
The firm is also in talks with several global ground station operators to expand its current network into a global network of earth stations providing unfettered access to operate satellites from anywhere in the world, and vice-versa.
Currently, setting up ground stations in India involves high upfront operational costs. On the other hand, access to GSaaS provides cost-effective access to shared ground station infrastructure, thereby reducing financial barriers for satellite operators.
Additionally, there is difficulty in scaling ground station capabilities based on given mission needs. In response to this, the mission-agnostic approach of Dhruva Space offers GSaaS with a flexible service model, enabling satellite operators to adjust their ground station resources as needed.