·  Dhruva Space partners with Sodern ArianeGroup to deploy HORUS star tracker on 2026 satellite mission.

·  Sodern’s Auriga star tracker selected for upcoming Dhruva satellite missions, ensuring cost-effective, reliable attitude control.

·  Partnership strengthens Indo-French space collaboration, advancing modular satellite tech and faster mission deployment.

Hyderabad-based space technology firm Dhruva Space has entered into a strategic collaboration with France's Sodern ArianeGroup, which is a world leader in space and defense optical and inertial instruments.

Sodern's next-generation HORUS star tracker will ride on the back of Dhruva Space's signature LEAP (Launching Expeditions for Aspiring Payloads) mission under which Sodern will be sending its payload to a Dhruva-hosted mission in 2026. The payload will be hosted in Dhruva's indigenously built P-30 nanosatellite platform, which has a modular bus architecture.

Dhruva Space's satellite subsystems, avionics and power, were qualified for space use in the LEAP-TD mission on ISRO's PSLV-C58 launch in 2024. Sodern's HORUS star tracker, which features a state-of-the-art Active Pixel Sensor, is an autonomous, high-accuracy attitude sensing solution optimized for telecom platforms.

In addition, Sodern's radiation-hardened Auriga star tracker has been selected by Dhruva Space as the attitude determination system of choice for future satellite missions. With more than 1,800 units in operation, Auriga offers dependable performance coupled with cost savings.

Vincent Dedieu, Sodern ArianeGroup CEO, underscored the importance of Indo-French space cooperation and is looking forward to operating HORUS on Dhruva's first small satellite mission.

Dhruva Space CEO Sanjay Nekkanti stressed the tie-up as a milestone in Indo-French cooperation in space and bringing together Dhruva's modular satellite design with Sodern's established attitude control systems to optimize mission deployment and innovation.

The collaboration was announced through the HCIM Business Delegation to France and Italy, which was headed by Minister Piyush Goyal, highlighting increasing Indo-French cooperation in manufacturing and deep tech. Dhruva Space provides end-to-end satellite, earth station, and launch services for space-based applications on Earth as well as beyond.