Bengaluru-based startup Digantara is set to launch the world's first commercial satellite for surveillance of objects as small as 5 cm orbiting the planet earth for ensuring safe space operations. Surveillance of outer space awareness (SSA) is vital for ensuring the safety of spacecrafts since orbits around the planet Earth become swarmed with artificial satellites and space debris.

Last month, ISRO had to delay the launch of SpaDeX satellites by 2 minutes owing to congestion in the orbit path of the rocket. Indeed, even a slight nudge by a piece of trash to a spacecraft circling the Earth at more than 25,000 km each hour could demonstrate lethal.

Digantara's Space Camera for Object Tracking (SCOT) satellite is set for launch onboard SpaceX's Transporter-12 mission around Tuesday midnight from California.

"With SCOT, we are taking a crucial step in achieving surveillance superiority, ensuring not only a safer and more sustainable space environment but also towards safeguarding sovereign assets in the face of an increasingly contested space domain," said Anirudh Sharma, Founder and CEO of Digantara Aerospace.

SCOT aims to enhance space safety, optimise traffic management and bolster national security initiatives, he said.

"Unlike these traditional systems, SCOT offers persistent monitoring of Resident Space Objects, detecting and tracking objects as small as 5 cm," a company statement said.