Two Indian space start-ups -- Pixxel and Digantara -- on Wednesday announced the launch of their satellites onboard a SpaceX rocket to closely monitor the earth and objects orbiting around it, marking a new era for the private firms in the space sector. Pixxel became the first private company in India to have its own constellation of satellites using the cutting-edge hyper-spectral frequency that allows observation of the earth in over 150 bands, a technology that is useful in sectors as diverse as agriculture and defence. Digantara Aerospace announced the launch of the world's first commercial satellite - Space Camera for Object Tracking (SCOT) - for surveillance of objects as small as 5 cm orbiting the earth to ensure safer space operations. Surveillance of outer space or situational space awareness (SSA) is important to ensure the safety of spacecraft as orbits around the earth become crowded with artificial satellites as well as space debris. Pixxel's three Fireflies, currently