The world’s first commercial space surveillance satellite, capable of tracking objects as small as five centimetres orbiting the Earth, was commissioned on Saturday as it captured images over South America, the Bengaluru-based start-up Digantara said. Digantara had launched the space surveillance satellite Space Camera for Object Tracking (SCOT) on January 14 aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-12 rocket. The satellite started operations on Saturday. “Space just ran out of hiding spots,” the start-up said in a post on X.
In a statement, the company said the SCOT satellite achieved first light on Saturday and its inaugural image while passing over South America a breathtaking view of Earth’s limb, with the city of Buenos Aires glowing against the planet’s curvature.
“SCOT’s first image is more than a technical milestone, it’s a symbol of our team’s resilience and unwavering commitment to safeguarding Earth’s orbits for generations to come,” said Digantara CEO Anirudh Sharma.