Pixxel, Sarvam team up to build orbital data centre satellite
05 May 2026, 11:14 AMThe Pathfinder, a 200 kg-class satellite, is scheduled to reach orbit as early as Q4 2026.
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Spacetech startup Pixxel and AI startup Sarvam said that they have struck a strategic partnership to develop and build an orbital data centre satellite called the Pathfinder.
As part of the partnership, Pixxel will design, build, launch, and operate the satellite while Sarvam will provide the AI backbone, a statement said. It added that Sarvam will handle both training and inference directly in orbit, with full-stack language models running on board the satellite.
The Pathfinder, a 200 kg-class satellite, is scheduled to reach orbit as early as Q4 2026.
The statement explained The Pathfinder satellite will carry data centre-grade GPUs, similar to those used in ground-based systems for AI training and inference. It said that this is unlike conventional satellite computing, which relies on low-power edge processors optimised for survival rather than performance.
Awais Ahmed, CEO, Pixxel, backed by investors including Google, Radical Ventures and Lightspeed, said that round-based data centres are facing increasing constraints around energy, land, regulation, and scale, underlining the need for orbital data centres.
Pratyush Kumar, CEO of Sarvam, backed by investors including Peak XV Partners and Lightspeed, framed the partnership as a matter of technological sovereignty.
"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," said Kumar.
This is not the first partnership between companies with claims to build India's first indigenous orbital data centre.
Earlier this year, space tech startup Agnikul Cosmos partnered to build a data centre in space.
Notably, big tech firms are increasingly exploring alternative energy sources to power AI infrastructure. Late last year, Google announced its Google “Project Suncatcher” as a research moonshot to explore solar-powered, space-based data centres, using satellite constellations equipped with its AI chips to run machine learning workloads in orbit.
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