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INDUSTRY FACT FILE · SPACE, SATELLITE & GEOSPATIAL SERVICES

Main Products and Services in Space, Satellite and Geospatial Services

What India's satellite makers and operators, launch start-ups, ground station and teleport operators, satcom providers, earth observation and geospatial platforms and navigation vendors deliver, the systems behind each, and where those systems create cyber and compliance exposure.

In this document

1. How space and geospatial businesses create value

2. Products and services by organisation type

3. The space and ground layers: satellites, launch, ground stations and mission control

4. The service layer: satcom, earth observation, geospatial and location

5. The systems behind the products and services

6. Trends that change the attack surface

7. Mapping operations to Codec Networks engagements

1. How space and geospatial businesses create value

Revenue stream	How it works	Security relevance
Satellite and component sales	Satellites, buses, payloads and subsystems sold to government, commercial and export customers	Design IP, supplier integrity, flight software security
Launch services	Dedicated and rideshare launches sold per mission or per kilogram	Engineering IT, range and test facility OT, customer data
Ground station services	Antenna time, TT&C and data downlink sold per pass or by subscription	Shared infrastructure, vendor access, scheduling integrity
Satellite communication services	Capacity, VSAT, broadband, maritime and aero connectivity sold to enterprises and government	NMS and terminal security, licence conditions, availability
Earth observation and geospatial data	Imagery, analytics, maps and digital twins sold by licence, subscription or project	API security, data handling, sensitive attributes
Navigation and location solutions	Receivers, telematics, location SDKs and APIs sold per device or per call	Location privacy, signal resilience, API abuse

2. Products and services by organisation type

Organisation type	Main products and services	Key systems
Satellite manufacturers	Small satellites, buses, payloads, integration and testing, in-orbit support	CAD and PLM, flight software repositories, test benches, cleanroom OT
Component and subsystem suppliers	Onboard computers, radios, star trackers, propulsion, solar arrays	Embedded firmware, build systems, supplier portals
Satellite operators	Satellite capacity, EO data collection, constellation services	Mission control, TT&C, key management, flight dynamics tools
Launch service start-ups	Small launch vehicles, engines, launch campaigns	Engineering IT, test stands, range networks, telemetry systems
Ground station and teleport operators	Antenna access, TT&C, downlink, ground-station-as-a-service	Antenna control units, modems, baseband, scheduling, cloud links
Satcom providers	VSAT, broadband, backhaul, maritime, aero and mobile satellite services	Hubs, gateways, NMS, terminal update servers, customer portals
EO, geospatial and location platforms	Imagery, tasking, analytics, maps, GIS, telematics and location APIs	Cloud platforms, data archives, APIs, SDKs, identity

3. The space and ground layers: satellites, launch, ground stations and mission control

A satellite mission begins in engineering. Satellite makers and component suppliers hold designs in CAD and product lifecycle management systems, write flight software and firmware in repositories and build pipelines, and test hardware on benches and in cleanrooms whose equipment is itself networked. Launch start-ups run engine test stands, telemetry systems and range networks alongside ordinary business IT. These environments hold valuable intellectual property, and they are where the integrity of everything that flies is decided: a tampered component, a backdoored library or a compromised build server can travel into orbit, where it is very hard to fix. Because suppliers often deliver software and firmware as finished images, makers need ways to verify what they receive and to keep test benches isolated and monitored.

Once in orbit, a satellite is operated from mission control through telemetry, tracking and command links, usually via a network of ground stations. Ground stations and teleports run antenna control units, modems and baseband equipment, scheduling systems that allocate passes and links to mission control and to cloud platforms that receive data. More of this is shared: one teleport may serve several operators, and ground-station-as-a-service models let operators book antenna time through a web portal and receive data directly in the cloud. That efficiency concentrates risk. Vendor remote access to antennas and modems, flat networks between customers, and portals that control scheduling are attractive targets, and the security of command paths and the custody of command and encryption keys decide whether an intruder can only disrupt a pass or can interfere with the spacecraft itself. Radio frequency links can also be jammed or interfered with, and testing their resilience is legitimate only when authorised and carried out in controlled conditions under the applicable licences.

4. The service layer: satcom, earth observation, geospatial and location

Satellite communication providers run hubs and gateways that connect satellites to terrestrial networks, network management systems that configure capacity and terminals, and fleets of user terminals at bank branches, mines, ships, aircraft, telecom towers and homes. Terminals receive firmware and configuration updates from management servers, which makes the management plane the most powerful part of the network. The 2022 KA-SAT attack showed what happens when that plane is breached: a misconfigured VPN gave attackers access, and a destructive update disabled tens of thousands of modems at once. In India, satcom services are licensed by the Department of Telecommunications under conditions that include security, interception and monitoring requirements, and licensees fall under the Telecom Cyber Security Rules 2024, so the security of hubs, NMS and update servers is both an operational and a licence question.

Earth observation, geospatial and location businesses deliver their products as data. EO platforms take tasking requests, schedule collections, process imagery and deliver it through portals and APIs; geospatial firms build maps, GIS layers, survey products and digital twins for government, infrastructure, agriculture and insurance clients; and location vendors provide GNSS and NavIC receivers, fleet telematics, mobile SDKs and location APIs. Their main attack surface is the cloud platform and the API. A broken authorisation check can reveal another customer's orders or imagery, an exposed storage bucket can publish an archive, and an old, unauthenticated API version can leak months of precise movement histories. The Geospatial Data Guidelines' list of sensitive attributes, customer confidentiality terms and the DPDP Act, which applies to the location data of identifiable people, make data handling as important as uptime. Location services also need to cope with GNSS interference, which Indian airports reported in 2025.

Highest-risk moments

Integrating a new supplier's subsystem or software, launch campaigns and final integration, commissioning a new ground station or opening one to new customers, granting vendor remote access to antennas or hubs, pushing a terminal firmware update across the network, launching a new tasking or location API version, migrating ground systems to the cloud, onboarding foreign partners or investors, applying for IN-SPACe authorisation or a telecom licence, and staff exits from mission or engineering roles are where space and geospatial incidents typically begin or escalate.

5. The systems behind the products and services

Title: Figure 2: Where cyber risk sits across the space mission lifecycle. - Description: Figure 2: Where cyber risk sits across the space mission lifecycle.

Figure 2: Where cyber risk sits across the space mission lifecycle.

Product / service	Systems that deliver it	Key cyber and compliance touchpoints
Design and build	CAD and PLM, flight software repositories, build servers, test benches, suppliers	Secure SDLC, software integrity, SBOMs, supplier assurance, IP protection
Launch and range	Engineering IT, test stands, range networks, telemetry systems	OT segmentation, ransomware readiness, recovery testing
Command and control	Mission control, TT&C software, flight dynamics, command and encryption keys	Privileged access, key custody, command authorisation, monitoring
Ground network	Antenna control, modems, baseband, scheduling, GSaaS portals	Segmentation, vendor access control, VAPT, logging
Service delivery	Satcom hubs, gateways, NMS, terminal update servers	MFA on management planes, signed updates, staged roll-outs, SOC
Data and location	EO archives, tasking and delivery APIs, maps, location SDKs	API authorisation, tenant isolation, DPDP minimisation, sensitive attributes

6. Trends that change the attack surface

Trend	What is changing	Security implication
Private launch and satellite growth	Start-ups build and operate satellites and launch vehicles under IN-SPACe authorisation	Young firms hold valuable IP and safety-critical systems with lean security teams
Shared and cloud ground segments	Ground-station-as-a-service and cloud delivery of satellite data	Tenant isolation, portal security and cloud configuration become critical
Low-earth-orbit broadband	LEO constellations and new satcom licensees serve Indian users	Terminal fleets, gateways and licence security conditions grow
Foreign capital and partners	FDI liberalisation and international collaboration	Due diligence, ownership and data flow questions in every deal
Geospatial liberalisation	Self-certification for most mapping and data products since 2021	Data handling, sensitive attributes and API security carry the risk
Space cyber regulation abroad	The proposed EU Space Act and NIS2 cover space operators and ground assets	Testing, risk management and incident reporting expectations rise

7. Mapping operations to Codec Networks engagements

If the organisation operates…	Recommended starting engagement
A satellite or component manufacturing business	Engineering IT and IP protection review, supplier and software integrity assessment, test bench segmentation review
Satellite operations and mission control	Mission control and TT&C review, privileged access and command key custody review, SOC monitoring
A launch vehicle programme	Range and test facility OT assessment, engineering IT VAPT, ransomware readiness and recovery testing
Ground stations, teleports or GSaaS	Ground network VAPT, vendor access and segmentation review, portal and cloud testing
Satcom networks and terminals	Hub, NMS and update server assessment, management VPN review, licence security condition support
EO, geospatial or location platforms	API and multi-tenant VAPT, cloud review, DPDP and sensitive attribute data handling review

Talk to Codec Networks

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Email: mktg@codecnetworks.com Web: www.codecnetworks.com

Note: Descriptions are general and based on public information available as of October 2026. Systems and exposures differ by organisation, mission, authorisation, licence and agreements in force. Radio frequency and link testing is described only as authorised testing in controlled environments, coordinated with the customer and any required licences and permissions.