Pixxel, a space-tech startup, has announced a partnership with LLM provider Sarvam AI. Under this new partnership, India’s first sub-orbital data centre satellite, called The Pathfinder will be built. The Pathfinder is expected to reach orbit by the end of 2026. Interestingly, inside this 200-kg satellite will be housed GPUs(Graphics Processing Units), which will be used to carry out the training and inference of Sarvam AI’s LLm models.
Global data centre capacity could reach around 200 GW by 2030, according to real estate firm JLL. In India, a report by Morgan Stanley suggests capacity may grow nearly six times—from about 1.8 GW now to roughly 10.5 GW by 2031.
Big tech is already making moves in this space:
Big tech companies are already exploring this space. Google and SpaceX, along with several startups, are working on ways to run computing systems in orbit. SpaceX has also talked about building a large network of data-centre satellites. At the same time, Meta is testing space-based solar power that could send energy back to Earth to support its operations.
All about Pathfinder satellite:
Unlike conventional satellite computing, which relies on low-power edge processors. The Pathfinder satellite will house the same generation of hardware as on-ground data centres used to power frontier AI models, as per the Bengaluru-based startup.
As part of the partnership, Pixxel said it will design, build, launch, and operate the Pathfinder satellite. The satellite will be developed at Gigapixxel, the company’s upcoming facility that will be designed to scale satellite production to up to 100 units. Pixxel did not disclose additional technical details about Pathfinder.
Sarvam, on the other hand, will handle the training and inference of its language models directly in orbit. The models and inference platform will process data with no dependence on foreign cloud or ground infrastructure, as per the press release.
The mission will further validate real-time AI inference and data processing in the harsh space environment. It is expected to test performance, power management, thermal constraints, and real-time data workflows under operational conditions while establishing the technical and commercial groundwork for future orbital data centre systems.
“Sarvam has been building India’s full-stack AI platform from the ground up, and partnering with Pixxel allows us to extend that sovereign stack into space. Having India-built models running in orbit aboard an India-built satellite is exactly the kind of foundational capability that the country needs to control its own intelligence infrastructure,” Sarvam CEO Pratyush Kumar said.
“Orbital data centres open up a new frontier, where compute can be powered by abundant solar energy, operate closer to space-based data, and move beyond some of the limits faced on Earth. For Pixxel to build the next generation of space infrastructure, we have to help shape this shift, not watch it happen from the sidelines,” Pixxel CEO Awais Ahmed said in a statement.
Along with chips used to train AI models, Pathfinder will also have a hyperspectral camera that can capture very detailed imaging data. This data will be processed right in space using AI models that are trained in orbit.
“Instead of sending large volumes of raw imagery back to Earth for processing, the system can identify patterns, detect changes, and generate insights in real time. This significantly reduces the delay between data capture and decision-making, enabling faster responses across environmental monitoring, resource management, and critical infrastructure tracking,” Pixxel said.