Pixxel, a planetary intelligence company, announced on May 4 plans for building India’s first orbital data centre satellite, which will be powered by Sarvam AI. Based on the press note, the companies partnered to design, build, launch, and operate the Pathfinder satellite. Sarvam will work as a backbone to the satellite by providing the AI technology, such as AI models, running AI tasks and deploying full AI language models directly on the satellite.

How will the Pathfinder satellite be developed?

Pixxel and Sarvam will build and deploy a highly advanced AI-powered satellite named Pathfinder that can process data directly in space. The satellite will weigh about 200 kilograms and is expected to launch by Q4 2026. 

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The Pathfinder satellite will be equipped with a low-power edge processor and data centre-grade GPUs, similar to the hardware used in modern AI data centres on Earth, allowing it to run advanced AI tasks directly in orbit. It will also consist of Pixxel’s flagship hyperspectral imaging camera that can capture “high-fidelity hyperspectral data and analyse it directly in orbit using foundation models. Instead of sending large volumes of raw imagery back to Earth for processing, the system can identify patterns, detect changes, and generate insights in real time,” Pixxel stated. 

This will help speed up decision-making in areas like climate and environmental monitoring, disaster response, agriculture, resource management, and infrastructure tracking. The satellite will be developed at Pixxel’s upcoming Gigapixxel facility that can scale satellite production to up to 100 units, and deploy next-generation space infrastructure from India.

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What it means for Sarvam AI?

With the partnership, Sarvam is expanding its India-built AI technology from Earth-based systems into space through this satellite partnership. Its AI models will run directly on the satellite’s GPU, instead of foreign cloud servers, overseas infrastructure, or Earth-based processing systems.

Pratyush Kumar, CEO, Sarvam, said, “Having India-built models running in orbit aboard an India-built satellite is exactly the kind of foundational capability that the country needs to control its own intelligence infrastructure. The goal has always been to make intelligence accessible to everyone, everywhere. Now, everywhere includes space. We are proud to power the AI backbone of this mission.”