Digantara Expands Bengaluru Space Hardware Capability With New Cleanroom

Bengaluru-based space technology company Digantara has added a new cleanroom facility to its growing space hardware infrastructure, as it expands work on space-domain awareness, electro-optical payloads and missile-tracking technologies.

The facility was publicly highlighted following a September 9, 2026 visit by Anil Prakash, Director General of the Space Industry Association of India, to Digantara’s Bengaluru operations. SIA-India drew attention to the new cleanroom during the visit, although neither the association nor Digantara has yet disclosed its size, cleanliness classification or the specific hardware programmes that will use it.

The development comes as Digantara increases its focus on manufacturing and deploying its own sensors and payloads. Cleanrooms provide controlled environments for working with sensitive optical, electronic and spacecraft hardware, where dust and other contaminants can affect performance. The additional facility should therefore support the company as it moves from technology development towards larger-scale production of space-qualified hardware.

Gen-2 Optical Payload Moves Towards Defence Applications

Digantara has also recently highlighted its second-generation electro-optical payload, developed for Space Domain Awareness. The company said its founders presented the Gen-2 payload to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and confirmed that the technology is now being advanced for missile-defence applications.

Space Domain Awareness involves detecting, identifying and tracking satellites, debris and other objects in orbit. Some of the same technologies can be adapted for missile warning, particularly high-speed optical sensing, trajectory estimation and continuous tracking. Missile-defence applications, however, require much faster detection and processing because targets may only remain within a sensor’s field of regard for a short period.

Digantara has been developing its own optical systems rather than relying entirely on imported imaging hardware. Its indigenous electro-optical lens system was designed specifically for space-surveillance missions and uses a nine-element Double-Gauss optical configuration. The company later announced that the system had completed vibration and thermal-vacuum qualification, including tests associated with PSLV and Falcon 9 launch environments.

Those tests are important because optical payloads intended for satellites must survive intense vibration during launch and large temperature changes in orbit without losing alignment or performance. Digantara has said that qualification of the design would allow it to move towards faster production of additional payloads.

PRISM Sensors for Orbital Surveillance

Digantara markets its current electro-optical sensor family under the PRISM name. The platform has been developed for applications including resident-space-object detection, orbital intelligence, object characterisation, proximity monitoring and missile detection.

The PRISM Wide configuration uses a 48-mm aperture with a broad field of view suited to searching large areas of the sky. PRISM Sharp uses a larger 180-mm aperture and a narrower field of view for more detailed observation and precision tracking.

Both systems combine optical sensing with onboard processing. This allows some detection and tracking functions to take place close to the sensor rather than depending entirely on ground-based processing after data is transmitted.

Expansion Into Missile Detection and Tracking

Digantara’s plans to move beyond conventional orbital surveillance became clearer after the company raised $50 million in late 2025. It said part of the capital would support expansion into missile detection and tracking, including technologies for early warning and persistent tracking.

The basic requirement is to establish and maintain an accurate track of a moving object. For satellites, this may involve observations spread over relatively long periods. Missile warning is considerably more demanding because detection, trajectory calculation and threat assessment must occur within minutes or even seconds.

Digantara intends to use a combination of space-based sensors, ground observatories and software to support these missions. Its AIRA platform is designed to combine information from different sensors and convert it into a common operational picture. The company says AIRA can work with optical, infrared, radar and externally supplied tracking data.

Digantara also operates a network of ground-based observatories for tracking objects in orbit. The company has been developing this network alongside its space-based sensors so that observations from different locations and platforms can be combined.

MOSAIC Adds a Distributed Ground-Surveillance Layer

Another part of Digantara’s surveillance architecture is MOSAIC, a wide-area Space Domain Awareness system built around distributed optical sensing.

Individual MOSAIC nodes combine wide-field optical sensors with local computing and automated data processing. Digantara says a node can detect and track hundreds of objects simultaneously. Multiple units can be distributed across different locations, allowing overlapping observations and reducing dependence on a single fixed sensor.

Such systems can support the tracking of satellites and debris while also contributing data for broader defence and space-security applications.

Building Domestic Space-Surveillance Hardware

India’s dependence on satellites for communications, navigation, reconnaissance and military operations has increased the importance of maintaining an independent picture of activity in orbit. Foreign tracking networks provide useful information, but sovereign sensors give India greater control over the collection, timing and interpretation of space-surveillance data.

Digantara is building capabilities across several parts of this chain. Its work now includes optical payloads, ground-based sensors, orbital tracking software, observatories and data-fusion systems.

The new Bengaluru cleanroom is therefore significant mainly as supporting infrastructure. It indicates that Digantara is increasing its ability to handle sensitive space hardware within its own facilities as the company prepares for larger production and deployment requirements.

Together with the Gen-2 optical payload and the company’s move into missile tracking, the facility shows how Digantara is expanding from its original focus on orbital debris and satellite tracking into a broader space-surveillance and defence technology business.

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