Innospace international sales head Moon Jin-ho, right, poses with Grahaa Space Projects head Aparajith Bangalore Subra Manimaran during a memorandum of understanding signing ceremony for the two firms' partnership in Bengaluru, India, Monday. Courtesy of Innospace
Innospace, a Korean private aerospace company specializing in small satellite launch vehicles, said Monday it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Indian satellite startup Grahaa Space to collaborate on multiple launch services, expanding a commercial relationship that began with the two companies' first joint mission last December.
The agreement was signed at the Korea-India Space Day event in Bengaluru, co-hosted by the Korea AeroSpace Administration and the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre. The event was held in conjunction with President Lee Jae Myung's state visit to India.
The MOU follows Innospace's inaugural commercial launch attempt in December, in which Grahaa Space's Solaras S2 nanosatellite was among the payloads carried aboard the HANBIT-Nano rocket.
That mission, designated SPACEWARD, ended in failure roughly 30 seconds after liftoff from Brazil's Alcantara Space Center. Despite the outcome, Grahaa Space said it came away with confidence in Innospace's technical preparation and customer management capabilities throughout the launch process, and agreed to pursue further cooperation.
Under the new agreement, the two companies will jointly identify future launch opportunities and build a customer-tailored multi-launch operational framework designed to provide flexibility in responding to clients' orbit requirements and scheduling constraints.
The model is intended to reduce the operational impact of schedule delays or technical variables by securing multiple launch opportunities, improving mission stability and predictability for satellite customers. The companies plan to establish systematic procedures for repeat launches and to expand their combined competitiveness in the global small satellite market.
Bengaluru-based Grahaa Space is developing a stackable nanosatellite platform for earth observation missions, targeting geospatial imagery applications across border surveillance, environmental monitoring, industrial activity analysis and defense sectors.
"Although the SPACEWARD mission did not conclude successfully, our confidence in Innospace's technical capabilities and responsiveness remains firm," said Ramesh Kumar V, co-founder and CEO of Grahaa Space.
"In the complexity of space missions, the true value of a partnership lies in understanding challenges together, learning from them, and continuing to collaborate without wavering. This MOU is grounded in that trust and a shared mid- to long-term vision."
Source: Korea Times News
