Chennai-based spacetech startup Agnikul Cosmos and AI cloud infrastructure agency NeevCloud have introduced plans to construct what they describe as India’s first privately led orbital AI knowledge centre platform in low-Earth orbit.

A proof-of-concept mission is focused earlier than the top of this yr, with industrial operations anticipated in 2027.

The collaboration will see Agnikul host NeevCloud’s AI-powered knowledge centre on the extendable higher stage of its launch car. Not like standard missions the place the higher stage releases satellites and is discarded, Agnikul has developed patented know-how to increase the lifetime of the stage and repurpose it as an orbital internet hosting platform.

“We had constructed our rocket’s higher stage as an extendable platform,” stated Srinath Ravichandran, cofounder and chief govt of Agnikul Cosmos. “What we’re doing now could be permitting that higher stage to host their AI knowledge centre in area. It turns into a platform on which their methods will run.”

Ravichandran stated the shared-hardware mannequin, through which the rocket’s higher stage and the info centre function as a single built-in system, might be a worldwide first. “Each different area knowledge centre idea we’re listening to about retains the rocket and the satellite tv for pc as separate our bodies. Right here we’re sharing {hardware}. That makes it extra cost-efficient, extra compact and extra managed,” he stated.

The mission will launch from India, probably from Sriharikota, topic to orbit necessities and regulatory approvals. Each firms described the venture as an India-led initiative, with rocket and knowledge centre {hardware} to be manufactured domestically.

The preliminary payload capability is as much as 500 kg. Of this, about 100 kg will account for the internet hosting platform. NeevCloud’s first satellite tv for pc configuration is anticipated to weigh 300–350 kg and can embody AI chips, storage and compute methods. The remaining allocation will probably be used for knowledge centre modules. The satellite tv for pc will function at an altitude of 350–500 km in LEO, circling the Earth about 16 occasions a day.

The primary configuration is anticipated to assist round 500 high-performance AI chips. Based on the corporate, a single satellite tv for pc may deal with as much as 100,000 concurrent customers or course of about 10 million AI-driven calls per day, relying on workload depth.

The primary satellite tv for pc is estimated to value about $1 million, or roughly Rs 8 crore-Rs 10 crore, and will probably be funded internally. NeevCloud isn’t at the moment elevating capital however expects further funding will probably be required as deployment scales. The businesses intention to increase to 30-40 satellites by 2027, relying on demand and efficiency. Long run, plans embody scaling to greater than 600 orbital edge knowledge centres by 2030 to create a steady real-time inferencing community.

The orbital system will draw energy from photo voltaic panels and retailer power in onboard batteries.

The platform is geared toward latency-sensitive purposes in defence, border safety, maritime operations, oil and fuel monitoring, catastrophe response, drones, robotics, autonomous methods, industrial automation and distant healthcare, particularly in areas with restricted terrestrial connectivity.