HEX20 Opens Satellite Control Centre at Marian Engineering College, Menamkulam

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
Technopark-based small satellite manufacturing company HEX20 opened its Satellite Control Centre at Marian Engineering College at Menamkulam here, ahead of the launch of its first satellite ‘Nila’ with US launch provider SpaceX this month.

‘Nila’ is India’s first payload hosted satellite from the private space sector. The satellite is named after Kerala’s culturally significant river, Nila. Interestingly, Technopark also has one of its buildings named Nila, where HEX20 is located. With this mission, HEX20 marks the beginning of its hosted payload solutions.

The inaugural event was attended by Col Sanjeev Nair (Retd.), CEO of Technopark; G Levin, CEO of KSpace; Dr. A R John, Manager, Marian Engineering College; Fr. Jim Carvin Roach, Bursar; Dr. Samson A, Dean; Dr. Abdul Nizar, Principal; MB Aravind, Co-Founder & Director, HEX20; and Anurag Reghu, CTO & Co-Founder along with HEX20 employees.

Aravind said this achievement marks the completion of a major milestone of the project, with the satellite being delivered on time within a quick turnaround period of around four months with the support from all regulatory bodies concerned, including the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) and Wireless Planning and Coordination (WPC).

Aravind informed that the satellite will fly on the launch vehicle of SpaceX — Falcon 9, along with their Transporter 13 mission from Vandenberg SFB, California.

The ground station at Marian Engineering College has been set up for satellite command and control. The data from the satellite will be received at the ground station. HEX20 is training a team of faculty members and students at the college in operating the ground station facility.

The Nila mission will qualify HEX20’s indigenously developed sub-systems and a payload for in-orbit demonstration from German company Dcubed.

“Early next year, we look forward to flying our 50 kg satellite on ISRO’s launch vehicle. Along with offering our customizable and high-performance spacecraft and components, we aim to enhance the current capabilities of institutions and private organisations globally through our FlatSats and capacity-building programmes,” said Anurag Reghu.

In 2023, HEX20 entered into a strategic collaboration with iSpace, inc. to stimulate demand for affordable lunar satellite missions across the globe. The MoU was inked at the 74th International Astronautical Conference (IAC) held in Baku, Azerbaijan, in October 2023. Japan-based iSpace, inc. is a global lunar resource development firm. HEX20’s partnership with the global major aims to leverage the combined technical prowess and regional network of the two pioneering companies.

HEX20 has established partnerships with leading academic institutions such as the National Central University in Taiwan and the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) in the USA for developing this mission.

Besides, aiming to give an impetus to the efforts of creating a space ecosystem, HEX20 set up its state-of-the-art R&D facility at Technopark on May 1, 2023.

“This year, we plan to expand our lab facilities to support the development of multiple satellites. This facility is well positioned to serve as the ultimate catalyst for innovation, collaboration and the pursuit of excellence in the state’s space technology field,” Anurag Reghu said.

HEX20, which has a presence in Australia, UAE and Taiwan, has partnered with the domestic manufacturing network that plays a pivotal role in ISRO missions. HEX20 builds payload-agnostic satellite platforms and offers satellite mission as a service and payload hosting capabilities to its customers.