When you look up at the night sky, it feels endless — vast, mysterious, and out of reach. But what if exploring it didn’t require bulky, expensive instruments? What if India could build its own ‘eyes in the sky’? Light enough to hold in your hands, yet powerful enough to map crops, monitor glaciers, or guard borders?
That’s the vision driving EON Space Labs, a Hyderabad-based deep tech startup founded in 2022 by Sanjay Kumar, Punit Badeka, and Manoj Kumar Gaddam. The company is reimagining imaging systems by shrinking heavy, traditional telescopes into compact, high-performance payloads for satellites, drones, and ground platforms. Backed by USD 1.2 million in fresh funding from MGF Kavachh and HHV Group, EON Space Labs is preparing to launch MIRA, India’s lightest high-resolution space telescope, by the end of 2025. Co-founder Punit Badeka takes CE behind the scenes of their mission.
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What inspired you to start EON Space Labs, and how did you identify the gap in India’s EO/IR surveillance market?
There’s a clear gap in India’s ability to design and manufacture end-to-end EO/IR (Electro-Optical/Infrared) systems. While we have strong system integrators, the country still depends heavily on imports — particularly for optics, infrared detectors, and precision gimbals. According to EY’s latest report, India continues to import most of its core optical elements and IR sensors from the US, France, Germany, and Israel. This dependency leads to higher costs, longer lead times, and strategic vulnerabilities.
At the same time, initiatives like iDEX (Innovation for Defence Excellence) and encouragement from international scientists convinced us that India was ready to develop world-class systems domestically. The global EO/IR market is projected to exceed USD 12 billion by 2032, and India alone imported thousands of shipments under HS 9002 (optical lenses and assemblies) in 2023 worth millions annually.
EON Space Labs is a natural extension of our collective experience in ultraprecision optics. All three co-founders had already been working together in the field, covering everything from ideation and design to manufacturing and validation. We knew that we could build end-to-end EO/IR systems integrating optics, opto-mechanics, and sensors — not just for defence and surveillance, but also for agriculture, climate monitoring, disaster management, and beyond.
India’s private space sector is growing rapidly. Where does EON Space Labs fit into this landscape?
India’s space ecosystem has entered a new era. With IN-SPACe and ISRO enabling startup access and a wave of private launch providers, satellite makers, and downstream companies emerging, the sector is now mirroring global markets focused on cost-effectiveness and scalability. In this landscape, EON Space Labs positions itself as a payload-first company. Satellites, drones, and ground platforms are only as valuable as the data they deliver — and EO/IR payloads are at the heart of that value chain. Our goal is to develop indigenous imaging systems that are compact, high-performance, modular, and scalable across platforms. Just as the PSLV made space access more affordable, we aim to make advanced imaging payloads more accessible — not only for defence but also for agriculture, climate science, disaster management, and urban planning. With launches planned on both ISRO and SpaceX missions, we aim to demonstrate flight heritage and then expand into global markets.
How is EON Space Labs reducing India’s dependence on imported optics and sensors?
We’re doing this in two key ways: first, by focusing on in-house design, engineering, and integration; and second, through strategic collaborations with Indian manufacturers like HHV Advanced Technologies. This approach allows us to prototype quickly, iterate efficiently, and scale production within India — strengthening our ‘Make in India’ capabilities and boosting export potential. A prime example is MIRA, India’s first compact fused-silica telescope, which is being developed with R&D support from HHV. Similarly, our aerial payloads Lumira V3 and V4 are progressing toward 85–90% indigenisation.
What makes MIRA different from traditional space telescopes?
MIRA is India’s first compact, high-resolution optical telescope designed specifically for space. What sets it apart is its monolithic optical design and ultra-surface finishing, achieved through our collaboration with HHV. Traditional telescopes rely on large assemblies with multiple optical elements. MIRA replaces that complexity with a single, lightweight, space-ready system — without compromising resolution. Upcoming launches with ISRO and SpaceX will establish its flight heritage, proving India’s capability to design, build, and qualify world-class imaging payloads. Once validated, this will pave the way for deploying entire constellations of compact, high-resolution imagers.
Miniaturising high-resolution imaging is a major challenge. What hurdles did you face?
Miniaturisation is always a balancing act — optimising size, weight, and power without sacrificing performance. Traditional optical assemblies are bulky, but for CubeSats, drones, and other small platforms, every gram counts. MIRA can be up to 70–90% lighter than traditional space telescopes while delivering comparable precision. Key challenges included developing compact optical systems with high precision and ensuring structural stability. Compact payloads are more sensitive to vibrations, thermal shifts, and alignment errors. Solving these required extensive engineering, testing, and innovative design.
How do you balance innovation with reliability and integration across platforms?
For us, innovation and reliability go hand-in-hand. A system isn’t useful if it’s not robust or easy to integrate. Our modular architecture allows payloads to scale across CubeSats, drones, and satellites while reducing development time. Each component is designed to withstand vibration, thermal changes, and launch stresses, with rigorous testing ensuring durability. Standardised interfaces and plug-and-play designs further simplify integration for system builders.
How does MIRA compare with global competitors?
MIRA stands out for its compactness, adaptability, and cost advantage — being built indigenously in India. It achieves metre-class resolution in a CubeSat-class package, something global players like Dragonfly Aerospace and SATLANTIS typically require larger, heavier payloads for. Its monolithic fused-silica design and ultraprecision finishing offer superior stability during launch and thermal cycling, without bulky support systems. While competitors like Simera Sense and NextVision have strong optics in specific domains, MIRA’s versatility across space, aerial, and ground platforms, coupled with planned ISRO and SpaceX launches, gives it a unique edge.
Beyond defence, how can MIRA support civilian applications?
MIRA is designed to make advanced imaging more accessible across sectors:
1. Agriculture: Multispectral imaging can monitor crop health, soil conditions, and water usage, enabling precision farming.
2. Climate monitoring: Constellations of small satellites can track atmospheric changes, deforestation, glacier retreat, and carbon emissions.
3. Urban planning: High-resolution imaging supports land-use analysis, infrastructure development, and sustainable growth.
4. Disaster management: Satellites equipped with MIRA — or drones with LUMIRA — can provide real-time situational awareness during floods, wildfires, and cyclones.
How are you ensuring quality and reliability as you scale manufacturing?
The transition from prototype to space-qualified systems is the most critical stage of our journey. Having achieved ultraprecision optics manufacturing with HHV, the next step is comprehensive space qualification at ISRO facilities, including vibration, thermal vacuum, and environmental testing to simulate launch and orbital conditions. These tests will validate reliability ahead of our upcoming flight heritage missions with SpaceX and ISRO.
How will you deploy your recent Rs 10.5 crore funding?
The funding will support four key areas:
1. Preparing MIRA for ISRO and SpaceX launches to establish flight heritage and enable exports.
2. Scaling the LUMIRA drone payload series with AI-enabled processors, indigenous gimbals, and swappable systems.
3. Expanding drone detection and anti-drone systems with advanced EO/IR payloads and multi-range detection.
4. Advancing iDEX defence integration, with field trials already underway.
What’s next for EON Space Labs?
Our TakeMe2Space mission will be a pivotal milestone. Once completed alongside ISRO’s certification and space-grade testing, it will boost confidence among satellite manufacturers and integrators, paving the way for adoption in swarm satellite missions. Beyond that, we plan to launch the full LUMIRA EO/IR series for drones, UAVs, and ground-based systems, develop next-gen hyperspectral and AI-enabled payloads, scale manufacturing, and expand globally.
What advice would you give to young engineers and deep tech entrepreneurs?
Deep tech and space are exciting frontiers but demand patience and precision. Unlike software, timelines are longer and error margins are zero. Master the fundamentals, celebrate small wins, and embrace multi-year R&D and certification cycles. Collaboration is crucial — partnerships with industry, investors, and government accelerate progress. Think global, build local. Leverage India’s strengths in cost-effective engineering while aiming for world-class standards. Most importantly, stay mission-driven and resilient. Setbacks are inevitable, but the impact of seeing your technology serve critical needs is incomparable.