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.
Moving beyond space
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.
“We have these germanium-free lenses, which are designed, developed, and manufactured from materials synthetically grown in India. They are affordable and easily available, which brings down the lead time from six months to six weeks,” the COO says.
The system has undergone trials aboard Indian Navy ships, where EON says it was able to identify vessels at around 30 km, including in low-visibility conditions.
“We have also developed a DIY telescope for school students, designed to let children assemble the instrument and observe the craters on the moon. A future version will add motorised tracking and AI features,” he says.
Badeka adds that the company's three-way positioning is a deliberate differentiator. “There is no company in the country that is designing, developing, and manufacturing these optical payloads that we are doing,” he says.
Building its own optical manufacturing capability
EON's longer-term ambition is to control more of the optical manufacturing process. The COO says the company wants to launch its own payloads so it can control the resulting imagery and use that data to improve its optics.
The company wants to use this flight heritage to improve the quality of its optics through better surface finishes and ultra-precision manufacturing. “Only a few machines in the country can do such precision optics manufacturing,” Badeka says. EON has applied for government support to build this capability.
At present, EON's optics are manufactured by strategic investor Hind High Vacuum (HHV). The startup plans to eventually install its own ultra-precision machines in Hyderabad and transfer its designs to the facility.
EON has secured payload orders from Indian spacetech companies including Orbited Labs and Kepler Aerospace. Orbited Labs will use an EON payload on its SSLV mission, while Kepler Aerospace has placed an order worth around Rs 6–7 crore for an iDEX programme.
“For Kepler Aerospace, it is going to be a bulk constellation of satellites that we are going to have with them,” Badeka says. “While we are designing and manufacturing these optics for them, we will also ensure that we are sending this with our own optics and readout electronics.”
EON is now preparing to raise around Rs 40 crore in a planned Series A1 round. The funding would support international commercialisation of its Lumira aerial products, its own payload launches, R&D, and a cleanroom facility for precision-optics work.
EON Space Labs is part of YourStory’s Tech30 cohort — a showcase of India’s most promising startups of 2026, unveiled at TechSparks Bengaluru.
Edited by Teja Lele