EON Space Labs has spent the last few years building optical systems for satellites, drones, and ground-based platforms, with a focus on reducing India’s dependence on imported imaging technologies.

The Hyderabad-based startup has now crossed an important milestone with Mira, its flagship earth-observation payload, reaching orbit aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Transporter-18 mission on October 2, 2026. The company expects to receive its first images in the next 10 days.

For Punit Badeka, Co-founder and COO of EON Space Labs, the mission is also about establishing indigenous capability.

“This proves and enables us to make sure that now the product is indigenised. We do not claim it. We prove that the product is designed and manufactured here in India itself,” he says.

The company has also secured an Indian patent for Mira. Its current portfolio spans three segments — space, aerial, and ground — covering earth-observation payloads, electro-optical/infrared (EONIR) systems for drones, and surveillance systems for ground applications.

Badeka says the spacetech startup is currently working with more than seven companies in the space segment, while its aerial business has received inbound interest from around 120 Indian companies seeking its EONIR payloads. In the ground segment, it is working with about 12 companies looking at perimeter surveillance, counter-drone systems, and airport monitoring.

One of its key developments is a handheld imaging system being developed through iDEX. It combines short-wave infrared (SWIR), long-wave infrared (LWIR) and a conventional day camera. Its LWIR system uses germanium-free lenses, replacing a material that has faced supply constraints.

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