Cosmoserve Space opens India’s first private space debris recovery facility
The Hyderabad-based startup unveiled Base 1, a facility designed for satellite servicing and orbital debris removal.
Hyderabad-based startup Cosmoserve Space unveiled its Base 1 facility on Thursday, which is India’s first private facility for space debris recovery and satellite servicing. According to The Hindu, the centre is only the sixth of its kind globally to feature microgravity simulation and space-vision systems.
The facility includes an Orbital Rendezvous and Capture Lab, a Space Robotics Innovation Lab, a Mission Simulation and Control Centre, and an ISO Class 8 clean room. It is designed to allow the company to design, build, test, and operate missions for in-orbit repairs, refuelling, and maintenance.
Union Minister of State for Science & Technology and Space Dr. Jitendra Singh inaugurated the facility alongside Telangana IT and Industries Minister D. Sridhar Babu.
Dr. Singh noted that the facility demonstrates the increasing technical abilities of India's private space startups.
Cosmoserve founder and CEO Dr. Chiranjeevi Phanindra said the company aims to tackle orbital debris, noting that about 10,000 of the nearly 28,000 satellites currently in orbit are non-operational. The startup has developed a Dual Spacecraft Architecture to service multiple satellites at lower costs, potentially reducing expenses from $10 million to less than $1 million per satellite.
The launch follows a $6-million seed funding round, bringing the company's total funding to over $9 million. Cosmoserve plans to conduct a full-scale space-debris capture demonstration by 2027.