THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: For Malayalis, it’s a moment to rejoice for satellite ‘Nila’ is up in the skies with a device that will control the movement of critical components in space missions.
The satellite, named after Kerala’s longest river, was launched by SpaceX’s Transporter 13 mission on March 15 and will control parts such as solar arrays and antennas.
Nila, which ferried to space the actuator payload made by German firm Decubed, was put together by city-based Hex20. The mission was backed by the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), the government agency that authorises the activities of startups in the sector. The spacecraft sent its first signal to the control centre of HEX20 at Marian Engineering College in Thiruvananthapuram on March 16.
HEX20 was begun by five friends – Lloyd Jacob Lopez, Anurag Reghu, Amal Chandran, Ashwin Chandran, and Aravind M B – in 2020. The firm started functioning from its base in Technopark in 2023, and this is their first major project, which was also launched entirely in the private domain.
The Nila project, however, was well-supported by ISRO, which also gave the clearance for setting up a tracking station at Marian Engineering College. “The ISRO facility gives priority to national and defence projects. However, it helped us with facilities for testing, etc.,” says Lloyd, who is the chief executive officer of the venture.
HEX20’s city control station is to step up its activities further, as it plans to train the students at the engineering college for their future missions. “We had earlier taken up work for the UAE space agency. For ISRO, the road is too long for us at this point since we have only started. However, the future for space startups in India seems bright, and we hope to aid the ISRO in its future missions,” says Lloyd.
An immediate project with ISRO for HEX20 is coming up next year, where it plans to launch a 50kg satellite along with the national agency.
Nila was a huge step in this direction, says Amal Chandran, HEX20’s chief technical officer. “With Nila, we are not just launching a satellite — we are building a foundation for future space missions, strengthening global partnerships, and enabling new opportunities for research and commercial applications.”
