Pixxel's first satellite, Anand, was earlier scheduled to be launched in late 2020 on a Soyuz rocket.[6] It later entered in an agreement with India's state owned NSIL to use a PSLV rocket for launching it in early 2021.[7] Its launch on board the PSLV-C51 was delayed in February 2021 due to technical issues.[8] It is now expected to launch on-board the PSLV-C54/EOS-06 mission.[9] The PSLV-C54 was successfully launched on 26 November 2022 at 11:56 IST / 06:12 UTC.
Pixxel launched the first of its three demonstration satellite through a hosted camera payload partnership with the Lithuanian firm, NanoAvionics on 30 June 2021 in their D2/Altacom-1 satellite on a SpaceXFalcon-9rideshare mission, Transporter-2.[10]
Pixxel launched its second satellite, Shakuntala/TD-2 on a SpaceXFalcon-9rideshare mission, Transporter-4 on April 1, 2022.[9][11]
Anand and Shakuntala are a part of the three demonstration satellites that Pixxel planned to launch. It plans to launch the first 6 satellites of its Firefly constellation in 2023 and 12 more by the end of 2024.[9]
Pixxel announced that it will provide the highest resolution commercially available hyperspectral images. It raised $2.3 million in March 2021 from Techstars, Omnivore VC and others. This is in addition to the $5 million it raised in August 2020 from Lightspeed Ventures and others.[12] Canadian firm Radical Ventures led a $25 million funding round in March 2022. The company has raised a total funding of $33 million till date.[10]
The company claims that its constellation is designed to provide global coverage at a revisit of every 24 hours.[13] Pixel plans to launch at least 6 satellites by the end of 2024, with NSIL & SpaceX.[14]
