Spacetech startup Dhruva Space to launch maiden commercial mission with Australian collaboration

Hyderabad-based spacetech startup Dhruva Space is set to launch its first commercial mission, LEAP-1, in collaboration with Australian partners Akula Tech and Esper Satellites. The mission is scheduled to lift off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in the third quarter of 2025.

The startup on Monday said the LEAP-1 mission will carry two payloads on Dhruva’s indigenously developed P-30 satellite platform, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered module from Akula Tech and a hyperspectral imager from Esper Satellites. The mission represents a growing Indo-Australian strategic partnership in the space tech sector.

The two payloads will have a wide range of applications across defence, disaster response, agriculture, mining, and environmental management. Akula Tech’s on-board AI module is designed to process and retrain machine learning models in orbit for earth observation use cases. Esper Satellites’ imager will deliver spectrally-rich remote sensing data through its technology.


This will be Dhruva’s first hosted payload mission after successfully testing its P-30 satellite bus in orbit during ISRO’s PSLV-C58 POEM-3 mission in January 2024. “Dhruva Space’s hosted payload offering integrates ground station-as-a-service (GSaaS) and its proprietary Integrated Space Operations and Command Suite (ISOCS) for real-time mission management and payload data downlinking,” the startup said in a statement.

The startup said it is seeing a growing interest in its payload offerings from customers across India, Europe, and Australia.

“Teaming up with our commercial partners in Australia creates remarkable opportunities for Indo-Australian Space business, which will, in turn, foster a long-term partnership. India is already a key economic and regional partner, and we see this mission symbolic of India’s status as a fast-growing space programme,” said Sanjay Nekkanti, cofounder, Dhruva Space.

The space startup credited ISRO and the Australian Space Agency, whose engagement in September 2022 led to meaningful interactions with a delegation of Australian space startups. These discussions helped build long-term Indo-Australian partnerships and support from SpaceX for mission readiness.