Punjab Newsline | New Delhi
India has launched its first AI-powered satellite capable of analysing images and data directly in space instead of sending all raw information to Earth for processing. The technology is expected to support border surveillance, disaster management and other applications while reducing the time and cost involved in data transmission.
Hyderabad-based space technology company TechMe2Space’s MOI-1A satellite was launched at 11:48 pm aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-18 mission.
According to the company, MOI-1A is India’s first orbital computing satellite, making India the fourth country after the United States, the European Union and China to develop such a capability.
Traditionally, satellites capture large volumes of images and data and transmit them to Earth, where the information is processed and analysed. MOI-1A is designed to perform this processing in orbit using AI, allowing only relevant and useful information to be transmitted to ground stations.
TechMe2Space CEO Raunak Kumar Samant Rai said that if a satellite collects 300 GB of data but only 5 GB is useful, its AI system can identify the relevant information and transmit only that portion to Earth.
The technology could be used for monitoring floods, forests, agricultural fields, mining areas, borders and land. By processing data in space, the satellite can potentially reduce bandwidth requirements, transmission time and associated costs.
