# Pixxel and Sarvam AI Pathfinder: orbital data center program

> India (Asia-Pacific), startup. Stage 1 of 7: Concept. The partnership was announced on 2026-05-04 with launch targeted for Q4 2026.

- Canonical page: https://spacenexus.us/orbital-data-centers/pixxel-sarvam-pathfinder
- This Markdown version: https://spacenexus.us/orbital-data-centers/pixxel-sarvam-pathfinder.md
- Data as of: 2026-10-05 (last evidence review)
- How the numbers are made: https://spacenexus.us/orbital-data-centers#method

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## Stage evidence

- The partnership was announced on 2026-05-04 with launch targeted for Q4 2026. Sources: [Pixxel](https://www.pixxel.space/news/pixxel-to-launch-indias-first-orbital-data-centre-satellite-powered-by-sarvam)

## Key figures

- Satellite mass: 200 kg (company claim). Sources: [Pixxel](https://www.pixxel.space/news/pixxel-to-launch-indias-first-orbital-data-centre-satellite-powered-by-sarvam)

## Approach

- Orbit: LEO
- Architecture: 200 kg-class satellite with data-center-grade GPUs and a hyperspectral imager; Sarvam models for onboard inference and training
- Power: Solar (not quantified)
- Cooling: Thermal performance under test
- Compute: Data-center-class GPUs (model not disclosed)
- Customers: Environmental monitoring, sovereign AI

## Milestones

| Date | Status | Confidence | Milestone | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2026-05-04 | achieved | Confirmed | Partnership for an orbital data centre satellite announced | [Business Today](https://www.businesstoday.in/technology/story/sarvam-ai-and-pixxel-partner-to-set-up-indias-first-orbital-data-centre-satellite-529652-2026-05-04); [Pixxel](https://www.pixxel.space/news/pixxel-to-launch-indias-first-orbital-data-centre-satellite-powered-by-sarvam) |

## Announced next steps (as the organisation stated them)

- as early as Q4 2026: Launch Pathfinder. Sources: [Pixxel](https://www.pixxel.space/news/pixxel-to-launch-indias-first-orbital-data-centre-satellite-powered-by-sarvam)

## What to watch (SpaceNexus note, not a prediction)

Whether Pathfinder launches in Q4 2026.

## Funding

- 7 Sep 2026: Series C (Pixxel, company-wide), $100M (not verified to our standard). company-wide round, not for this program alone; valuation not disclosed. Sources: [Tech Times](https://www.techtimes.com/articles/326880/20260907/pixxel-raises-indias-record-100m-space-round-fund-orbital-ai-data-centers.htm)

## Cautions

- A reported $100M Pixxel round is single-source and excluded.
- "India's first" is the companies' framing.

## People

- Awais Ahmed (CEO, Pixxel)
- Pratyush Kumar (CEO, Sarvam)

## Sources

- [Pixxel](https://www.pixxel.space/news/pixxel-to-launch-indias-first-orbital-data-centre-satellite-powered-by-sarvam)
- [Business Today](https://www.businesstoday.in/technology/story/sarvam-ai-and-pixxel-partner-to-set-up-indias-first-orbital-data-centre-satellite-529652-2026-05-04)
- [Tech Times](https://www.techtimes.com/articles/326880/20260907/pixxel-raises-indias-record-100m-space-round-fund-orbital-ai-data-centers.htm)

## Licence and credits

- Licence: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) for the stage, labels and summaries compiled by SpaceNexus. Cite as "Data: SpaceNexus (spacenexus.us)" with a link to https://spacenexus.us/orbital-data-centers/pixxel-sarvam-pathfinder.
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