Best Place To BuildSuyash Singh, GalaxEye | "If I can't build a deep tech startup at IITM, I can never do it." | Ep. 10
At a glance
WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Building GalaxEye from IIT Madras: hyperloop roots to satellites
- Suyash’s path from mechanical engineering and corporate research to IIT Madras led him to start Avishkar Hyperloop, which became a formative deep-tech, team-building experience and a bridge between BTech and MTech innovation cultures.
- GalaxEye positions itself as a data company that acquires Earth observation imagery from its own satellites, aiming to solve the core bottleneck of inconsistent optical imagery due to clouds and nighttime limitations.
- The startup’s technical differentiator is fusing Synthetic Aperture Radar (microwave, cloud-penetrating, night-capable) with multispectral imaging (visible/near-IR, intuitive interpretation) to make imagery both available and usable for mainstream applications.
- Suyash outlines a rigorous satellite development lifecycle (idea → concept → PDR → CDR → AIT → launch), including risk management via space-proven components and extensive environmental testing, while using ISRO’s POEM as an in-orbit validation step.
- He argues India’s 2020-era space privatization reforms catalyzed a new wave of private space startups, and that IIT Madras’ network, advisors (ex-ISRO/DRDO), and investor ecosystem collectively reduce execution friction for deep-tech founders.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasConsistency is the unlock for a “Google Maps moment” in Earth imaging.
GalaxEye’s thesis is that many downstream SaaS applications (agri, rail, infrastructure, risk) stall because imagery delivery is unpredictable; improving availability and revisit reliability can enable whole new categories of products.
SAR solves availability; multispectral solves interpretability—fusion targets both.
Optical imagery is intuitive but blocked by clouds/night, while SAR works through clouds and at night but looks like “X-ray” noise; combining them aims to create imagery that is both frequent and easy for non-experts to use.
Deep-tech execution depends on disciplined systems engineering, not just ideas.
Suyash frames satellite building as a staged process (idea→concept→PDR→CDR→AIT) with mass/power/volume budgeting, supply-chain design, and harsh-environment testing (thermal-vac, vibration) to avoid “debugging in orbit.”
De-risking hardware can happen before space via aerial testbeds.
Instead of flying an unproven payload, GalaxEye miniaturized its sensor stack for drones/aircraft/HAPS and ran 400+ flights to mature algorithms and architectures before committing to orbital deployment.
ISRO’s POEM provides a pragmatic “0-to-1” stepping stone for startups.
POEM lets teams fly and validate a critical subsystem in orbit on a shared ISRO platform, reducing technical uncertainty and giving founders hands-on experience with launch integration workflows.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesIf I can't build a deep tech project here, I can never do it in my life.
— Suyash Singh
We are a data company. We acquire data from space.
— Suyash Singh
Earth is covered by clouds around 70%… during the nighttime, your cameras can't… click pictures.
— Suyash Singh
Radar is available, but not intuitive… it is like X-ray.
— Suyash Singh
India space… walked so far, and we will now run.
— Suyash Singh
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