A thermal infrared camera built by Ahmedabad space startup SatLeo Labs is manifested on SpaceX’s Transporter-18 rideshare, scheduled to lift off on a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on October 1 (US time). The payload, called TAPAS-1, flies as part of Dhruva Space’s LEAP-2 mission, Business Standard reported. The company calls it India’s first dedicated commercial thermal payload in the CubeSat class.
The launch window opens at 11:18 am Pacific time, which is close to midnight in Gujarat, with a backup window the following day.
What a thermal camera adds
Most Earth-observation satellites photograph reflected sunlight. A long-wave infrared sensor measures the heat a surface gives off, so it can tell a scorching tin-roofed slum from a shaded housing society, or a water-stressed field from an irrigated one, even when both look the same in a colour photo.
SatLeo co-founder Urmil Bakhai described TAPAS-1 to Deccan Herald as a “thermometer for planet Earth”. It will operate from roughly 500 km up and has a planned life of three years, according to DeshGujarat. The company lists crop water stress, forest-fire detection, urban heat mapping and industrial monitoring among its target uses.
The Ahmedabad connection
The firm has already tested its analytics on the ground in its home city. During the summer of 2026 it worked with the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation on ward-level heat forecasts, which Business Standard and Deccan Herald both report came within 2 to 3 degrees Celsius of observed temperatures. Outdoor workers received heat advisories through QR codes, and health teams got advance warning of the hottest days. Bakhai told Deccan Herald the team flagged the ten wards that needed attention first.
That pilot relied on coarse satellite data and drones. An orbiting sensor of SatLeo’s own is the step that could make such forecasts routine. Ahmedabad adopted its Heat Action Plan in 2013, three years after the May 2010 heatwave, and its health department already issues colour-coded heat alerts. Finer, more frequent land-surface temperature maps would let the AMC target cool-roof programmes, tree planting and water kiosks at specific streets instead of whole zones.
Farmers in Saurashtra and north Gujarat are the other obvious beneficiaries. Thermal data can show which plots are drying out days before the crop wilts, which matters in a state where this year’s monsoon left parts of Saurashtra and Kutch short of rain.
The business behind it
SatLeo was founded in Ahmedabad in 2023 by Shravan Singh Bhati, Ranendu Ghosh and Urmil Bakhai. DeshGujarat and Business Standard both report letters of intent worth about $52 million from prospective customers, a large share of them outside India, including buyers in the Middle East, Australia and the US.
TAPAS-1 is a technology demonstrator. The company plans TAPAS-2, which adds medium-wave infrared and optical sensors, by mid-2027, and then a constellation it calls PYRO: 12 to 15 microsatellites of around 150 kg each, with 2029 as the target for the full fleet. Letters of intent are not contracts, and the demonstrator first has to show its sensor holds calibration in orbit.
The startup sits in a city with deep space roots. ISRO’s Space Applications Centre and the Physical Research Laboratory are both in Ahmedabad, and Ghosh spent 27 years at ISRO on satellite payloads, according to the IANS wire. DeshGujarat notes that the state’s Spacetech Policy 2025-30 offers help with launch costs, intellectual property and testing.
What to watch
- Confirmation of deployment and first signal from LEAP-2, which SpaceX schedules for release about an hour after liftoff.
- First thermal images, and whether SatLeo publishes calibrated temperature maps of a Gujarat city.
- Whether the AMC or the state agriculture department signs on as a paying user once orbital data is available.
Sources: Business Standard, Deccan Herald, DeshGujarat, KEYT
This report was compiled and written with AI assistance from publicly reported sources, and reviewed for accuracy.