SatLeo Labs launches TAPAS-1, India's first commercial CubeSat thermal payload

Ahmedabad-based start-up SatLeo Labs flew TAPAS-1 (Thermal Access Platform for Analytics & Solutions) on 1 October 2026, on SpaceX's Transporter-18 Falcon 9 rideshare from Vandenberg, via Dhruva Space's LEAP-2 platform. It is described as India's first dedicated commercial CubeSat-category thermal payload, using long-wave infrared sensing.

TAPAS-1 is a technology demonstrator to validate the sensor and data-processing chain in orbit. Its native resolution is about 60 metres, with a target temperature accuracy of roughly one Kelvin. TAPAS-2, adding medium-wave infrared and optical sensing, is due around April to May 2027. The flagship PYRO microsatellites are intended to reach sub-10-metre resolution, within a planned constellation of 10 to 15 thermal satellites by 2029.

The company reports non-binding letters of intent worth about $52 million, and earlier municipal pilots in Ahmedabad (heat forecasts) and Tumakuru (landfill methane monitoring).

Why it matters: Commercial thermal data at higher resolution and revisit could widen access to land surface temperature products for heat, agriculture and fire monitoring. The same demand exists across African cities and farmland, where such datasets remain scarce.