{"id":329647,"date":"2026-03-05T04:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T04:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/329647\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T04:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T04:36:09","slug":"india-taps-space-startups-for-launching-bodyguard-satellites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/329647\/","title":{"rendered":"India taps space startups for launching \u2018Bodyguard\u2019 satellites"},"content":{"rendered":"

India\u2019s security agencies have asked private startups to develop so-called bodyguard satellites<\/a> as the country accelerates efforts to protect space assets at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions, according to people familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n

Discussions between government bodies and startups are in advanced stages and the private companies are aiming to launch their first test satellite in the first half of this year, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information isn\u2019t public. These are meant to escort, protect and counter orbital threats to high-value spacecraft.
Additional launches are expected by the end of this year or early next year and the technology is likely to then be acquired by government agencies, which will develop more of the bodyguard satellites, they said.<\/p>\n

India has become increasingly concerned about the national security threat posed by foreign spacecraft after a border conflict last year with neighbor Pakistan. During the hostilities, China provided Pakistan with satellite support, helping Islamabad adjust its radar and air defense systems more effectively, a research group under India\u2019s defense ministry said in May.<\/p>\n

The desire to enact safeguards was kickstarted by a near-miss 2024 incident in which a spacecraft from an unidentified neighboring country came within 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) of an Indian satellite performing tasks that could have military applications such as mapping and monitoring of on-ground objects, Bloomberg News reported in September.<\/p>\n

\"ETLive Events
The efforts took on fresh urgency for Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s administration following last year\u2019s military confrontation with Pakistan that put the two nations on the brink of an all-out war. Satellites were used extensively to identify and monitor targets during the four-day showdown, which also revealed some shortcomings that New Delhi is now plugging by bolstering its surveillance system.
Indian Space Research Organisation<\/a>, India\u2019s Department of Space and the Ministry of Defence did not respond to an email seeking comments on plans for bodyguard satellites.\u2018Probability of Disruption\u2019\u201cThe probability of satellites being disrupted is definitely there,\u201d said Anil Bhatt, a former chief of military operations, who is now the director general at the Indian Space Association. \u201cEvery nation that wants to be a serious player in the critical space domain will need to build kinetic and non-kinetic capabilities to protect its own assets.\u201d<\/p>\n

China is practicing \u201cdogfighting\u201d satellites as its space prowess continues to expand, CNN reported in March 2025 quoting a United States Space Force official. <\/p>\n

Japan\u2019s defense ministry has begun work on a prototype of a bodyguard satellites to guard against other nations\u2019 so-called killer satellites, according to a media report last year. The European Defense Fund has also been considering this initiative since at least 2023.<\/p>\n

Security concerns have been exacerbated by China\u2019s growing significance as a space superpower and its technological prowess. The country has more than 1,100 active satellites compared with just over 100 for India, according to data from tracking site N2YO.com.<\/p>\n

China, which continues to have a fragile relationship with India despite a recent thaw, has been experimenting with bodyguard satellites for quite sometime now and has likely developed capabilities to physically disrupt or connect with other satellites, the people said.<\/p>\n

India has been discussing space cooperation, including real-time tracking and monitoring of satellites, with countries including France and the United Arab Emirates, one person said.<\/p>\n

Indian startups are looking to develop two types of bodyguard satellites. One model has a robotic arm that can hook into and physically move spacecraft India views as undertaking hostile actions. The second type is designed to tackle smaller satellites that are attacking Indian space assets by enclosing them \u2014 forming a box around them \u2014 and then moving them away.<\/p>\n

\u2018Eye in The Sky\u2019The satellite-protection project is part of a bigger effort by Modi\u2019s government to develop more security assets in orbit.<\/p>\n

It has fast-tracked the Space-Based Surveillance program<\/a> that aims to launch more than 50 spy satellites and add night-time as well as all-weather imaging. In the longer term, India\u2019s space agency and private partners plan to deploy up to 150 new satellites to ensure a comprehensive \u201ceye in the sky\u201d over the nation\u2019s borders. <\/p>\n

India is expanding its ground infrastructure too by building stations at home and in strategic overseas locations to monitor foreign spacecraft and ensure near-instantaneous data transfers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"India\u2019s security agencies have asked private startups to develop so-called bodyguard satellites as the country accelerates efforts to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[152194,152201,152202,152197,61,152195,39689,60,152200,152196,82,247,152199,152198],"class_list":["post-329647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-bodyguard-satellites","tag-china-satellite-capabilities","tag-defense-satellite-technology","tag-geopolitical-tensions-in-space","tag-ie","tag-india-space-startups","tag-indian-space-research-organisation","tag-ireland","tag-military-satellites-india","tag-satellite-protection-technologies","tag-science","tag-space","tag-space-asset-protection","tag-space-based-surveillance-program"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}