Achintyaa TewariAchintyaa Tewari is a BITS Pilani graduate with experience across finance, technology, and business. Formerly with the Adani Group’s CTO Office, he now works in the CEO’s Office at PierSight, focusing on strategy and business development to drive transformative technology solutions.
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PierSight and Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) today announced the signing of a Letter of Intent under which KSAT’s Earth Observation division, KSAT EO, through its surveillance platform Vake, Powered by KSAT, expressing intent to become a customer of PierSight’s maritime surveillance data.
What KSAT EO is evaluating is a payload combination that is unusual in orbit. PierSight’s Varuna satellites carry Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and AIS reception on the same platform, which means a vessel can be detected by radar and identified by its transponder within a single pass. Where the transponder is silent, the radar return shines.
The data will be captured by Varuna 2.0, PierSight’s first commercial SAR + AIS satellite, launching in 2027, and by subsequent Varuna missions in a planned 32-satellite constellation.
With decades of experience in satellite operations and Earth observation, KSAT combines space-based data with its global ground infrastructure to deliver timely and reliable information to operational user. PierSight, founded by former ISRO scientist Gaurav Seth, is India’s first maritime-focused SAR constellation company.
“KSAT has spent decades earning the trust of maritime agencies worldwide. Their decision to evaluate PierSight’s capabilities for potential use in Vake Powered by KSAT is a strong validation for us. We’re creating a new era of maritime surveillance with our application specific satellites, and are glad that KSAT EO is looking to partner” ~ Gaurav Seth, CEO and Founder, PierSight
As maritime activity continues to grow, timely and reliable maritime situational awareness is becoming increasingly important. With decades of experience delivering operational maritime services and one of the world's most extensive ground station networks, KSAT is uniquely positioned to turn satellite observations into actionable maritime intelligence, enabling rapid response and informed decision-making for operational users.
We want to make the space domain convenient for users to draw upon through timely, relevant, and reliable data, available via the Vake Powered by KSAT platform, which offers both secure and easy web and API access. We are pleased to cement our role as a meta-constellation by exploring how PierSight's new SAR satellites can contribute to enhanced maritime situational awareness, says Rudi Thomassen, CEO of Vake
Written by
Achintyaa Tewari
Achintyaa Tewari is a BITS Pilani graduate with experience across finance, technology, and business. Formerly with the Adani Group’s CTO Office, he now works in the CEO’s Office at PierSight, focusing on strategy and business development to drive transformative technology solutions.