📷 Image: Wikimedia Commons / Shagil Kannur
Science
Kerala’s HEX20 Satellite Successfully Launches into Orbit a Year After Nila
✍️ The Economic Times
🗓 14 Jul 2026, 01:04 PM
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Kerala’s HEX20 satellite, developed by the state’s Space Science and Technology Mission, was successfully launched into orbit a year after the earlier Nila mission, marking another milestone for the state’s space program.
On 17 July 2024, Kerala’s HEX20 satellite was launched into orbit by ISRO’s PSLV rocket from the Vayyar launch site in Karnataka.
The satellite, developed by the Kerala Space Science and Technology Mission (KSSAT), carries a 3‑D imaging payload for environmental monitoring and data collection.
This launch marks the second successful deployment of a Kerala‑produced satellite, following the Nila mission in 2023, and underscores the state’s growing capabilities in space technology.
The PSLV rocket lifted the 30‑tonne HEX20 into a low‑Earth orbit, where it will operate for a planned mission life of five years.
The satellite, developed by the Kerala Space Science and Technology Mission (KSSAT), carries a 3‑D imaging payload for environmental monitoring and data collection.
This launch marks the second successful deployment of a Kerala‑produced satellite, following the Nila mission in 2023, and underscores the state’s growing capabilities in space technology.
The PSLV rocket lifted the 30‑tonne HEX20 into a low‑Earth orbit, where it will operate for a planned mission life of five years.