Satellite Bus Manufacturing

India has over 300 space startups. ISRO has committed to 50+ launches per year through 2030. The government's PLI (Production Linked Incentive) scheme is beginning to catalyse investment in space manufacturing. Yet there is no Indian company that commercially manufactures space-qualified satellite bus subsystems. Every smallsat being built in India today — by startups, by universities, by ISRO itself — relies on imported EPS boards, imported OBCs, imported transceivers. Gaganorbit is closing this gap, one subsystem at a time.

Our satellite bus manufacturing programme targets the 50–150 kg smallsat class — the fastest growing segment of the global space market and the backbone of India's planned commercial constellations. Rather than attempting to build a complete bus from scratch, we are building a complete indigenous subsystem stack in phases — each phase commercially viable as a standalone product, each phase building the engineering foundation for the next.

Phase 1: GaganPOWER-1 — Electrical Power System Controller GaganPOWER-1 is India's first indigenously designed, manufactured, and space-qualified MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) based EPS controller board for the 50–150 kg smallsat class. It is being developed at the IN-SPACe Technical Centre in Ahmedabad under the IN-SPACe Seed Fund — the first tranche of government funding we have secured. The EPS is the most fundamental subsystem of any satellite. GaganPOWER-1 will be priced competitively against imports while being fully manufactured in India, qualifying under Make in India, DDP criteria, and the upcoming PLI scheme. It is designed to ECSS-E-ST-20 and ECSS-Q-ST-60 standards with environmental qualification conducted at IN-SPACe's on-site facilities.

Phase 2: GaganCOMPUTE-1 — On-Board Computer The satellite On-Board Computer (OBC) is the second highest-value imported subsystem. GaganCOMPUTE-1 is a radiation-tolerant OBC designed around a proven processor architecture (ARM Cortex-M or RISC-V), running a real-time operating system with CCSDS compatible telemetry and telecommand interfaces. Development is planned for Year 2, contingent on Technology Acceleration Fund (TAF) from IN-SPACe.

Phase 3: GaganCOMMS-1 — S-Band Software Defined Transceiver GaganCOMMS-1 is a software-defined S-band transceiver for satellite TT&C and data downlink. A domestically manufactured S-band transceiver eliminates the single largest regulatory complexity in satellite communications hardware import — ITAR/EAR restrictions on RF hardware — while qualifying under DRDO's technology indigenisation priorities. Development is planned for Years 3–4.

Phase 4: GaganWHEEL-1 — Reaction Wheel Assembly Attitude control is among the most mechanically complex subsystems. GaganWHEEL-1 is a compact reaction wheel assembly for 3-axis attitude control in the 50–150 kg smallsat class, using indigenous bearing systems, brushless DC motors, and drive electronics. Development is planned for Year 5 and beyond.