Propulsion & spacecraft systems
Bellatrix Aerospace
Bengaluru propulsion maker whose Arka electric and Rudra green thrusters were space-qualified on ISRO missions; it raised $20 million in a pre-Series B round in March 2026.
Bellatrix Aerospace builds in-space propulsion: the small thrusters that hold a satellite in position, raise its orbit, and push it down again at the end of its life. Rohan M Ganapathy and Yashas Karanam founded the company in Bengaluru in 2015, working at first out of the Indian Institute of Science campus and testing on shared equipment there. By September 2024, when ThePrint visited, roughly 70 staff worked from a manufacturing plant in Peenya on the city's outskirts, with vacuum chambers of its own. The catalogue now runs from the Arka Hall-effect electric thrusters and the Rudra green monopropellant line, sold as a replacement for hydrazine, to the water-fuelled Jal microwave plasma thruster and Fingernail, a nano engine measuring less than 5 cm by 5 cm.
The hardware earned its flight record on ISRO rockets. Arka was tested in space for the first time on PSLV-C55 on 22 April 2023, and on 1 January 2024 both Arka and Rudra flew on PSLV-C58 alongside XPoSat, after which chief executive Rohan M Ganapathy said "both Rudra and Arka are operating in space as per design specifications". Rudra 0.3, which the company describes as India's first high-performance green propulsion system, was fired on the POEM-3 platform on 27 January 2024 and again, in upgraded form, on POEM-4 on 2 January 2025. In March 2026 Bellatrix launched Harbinger, its first complete satellite and its first flight of an in-house satellite bus and attitude-control system, on SpaceX's Transporter-16 rideshare; it reached an orbit of about 510 km.
Bellatrix reached that position by giving up on rockets. On 9 February 2022 Rohan Ganapathy announced that the company had stopped work on Chetak, a two-stage methane launch vehicle it had proposed to fly in 2023, in order to work only on propulsion. What replaced it was orbital mobility and very low orbits. Pushpak, an orbital transfer vehicle sized for CubeSats and small satellites weighing up to 750 kilograms and using a hybrid of electric and green propulsion units, is contracted into NewSpace India Limited launch missions. The very-low-orbit work has moved more slowly than first announced: Ganapathy told IEEE Spectrum in October 2024 that a satellite flying at 180 to 200 km on air-breathing electric propulsion would launch by 2026 after a demonstration mission in 2025, and by June 2026 the nearest firm date was a Korean very-low-orbit demonstrator with TelePIX, for which Bellatrix is prime contractor, targeted no earlier than 2028.
Money has arrived in modest instalments. ThePrint recorded a $3 million pre-Series A in 2019; an $8 million Series A led by BASF Venture Capital followed in June 2022; and in April 2025 Entrackr reported Rs 26 crore raised at a flat Rs 314 crore valuation, no higher than the round before it. The $20 million pre-Series B closed in March 2026 and led by Cactus Partners is the largest to date, and in reporting it Entrackr described the company as still in the pre-revenue stage, with revenue of Rs 1.75 crore against losses of Rs 25.27 crore. Published totals disagree: Entrackr counted $24.2 million raised since inception, while Inc42 put the figure at about $31 million.
What they build and operate
- Arka · Engine · Operational
Hall-effect electric thrusters for micro-satellites in the 50 to 500 kg class, offered in variants from 50W to 5kW; the Arka 200 was space-qualified in orbit during 2024.[10][8][6] - Rudra · Engine · Operational
Green monopropellant thrusters offered with 1N, 5N and 100N thrust, presented as a replacement for hydrazine; Rudra 0.3 HPGP was fired on POEM-3 and POEM-4.[8][10] - Pushpak · Spacecraft · In development
Orbital transfer vehicle carrying CubeSats and small satellites weighing up to 750 kilograms, with a hybrid electric and green propulsion system the company says reaches a delta-V of up to 7 km/s.[12][11][10] - Jal · Engine · In development
Microwave plasma thruster that the company describes as a water-powered electric propulsion system.[13][7] - Fingernail · Engine · In development
Nano thruster for station-keeping, de-orbiting and collision avoidance, reported as measuring less than 5 cm by 5 cm — smaller than a one-rupee coin.[13][7][9] - Harbinger · Satellite · Operational
Technology-demonstration satellite, the company's first complete spacecraft, launched on SpaceX's Transporter-16 rideshare in March 2026 into an orbit of about 510 km.[9][5][10]
Funding
- 2019 · Pre-Series A
$3 million[7] - June 2022 · Series A
$8 million — BASF Venture Capital[4][10] - April 2025 · Pre-Series B
Rs 26 crore at a flat Rs 314 crore valuation — Inflexor Ventures, StartupXseed Ventures, Pavestone VC[4] - March 2026 · Pre-Series B
$20 million — Cactus Partners, Hero Investment Office, 35North Ventures, Indusbridge Ventures, Monarch Holdings, Inflexor Ventures, Pavestone VC, GrowX, StartupXseed, Survam Partners[1][3][2]
Milestones
- 2015
Rohan M Ganapathy and Yashas Karanam founded the company in Bengaluru, working at first from the Indian Institute of Science campus.[7][10][6] - 09 February 2022
Co-founder Rohan Ganapathy announced that the company had stopped work on Chetak, the two-stage methane launch vehicle it had proposed to fly in 2023, to concentrate on propulsion.[10] - 22 April 2023
Arka was tested in space for the first time, on ISRO's PSLV-C55 mission.[8] - 01 January 2024
Arka and Rudra flew on PSLV-C58 with XPoSat, and the company reported both were operating in space as per design specifications.[8] - 27 January 2024
Rudra 0.3 HPGP was fired in space on the POEM-3 orbital platform.[10] - September 2024
Agreed with NewSpace India Limited to integrate the Pushpak orbital transfer vehicle into NSIL launch missions; Bellatrix dated its own announcement 27 September 2024, while Wikipedia records the contract as 9 October 2024.[11][10] - October 2024
Told IEEE Spectrum it aimed to launch a satellite flying at 180 to 200 km on air-breathing electric propulsion by 2026, after a demonstration mission in 2025.[6] - 02 January 2025
An upgraded Rudra 0.3 was tested on the POEM-4 platform.[10] - April 2025
Raised Rs 26 crore at a Rs 314 crore valuation that Entrackr reported as flat against the previous round.[4] - April 2025
Opened a United States subsidiary and announced plans for a satellite-production factory there.[5][1] - March 2026
Raised a $20 million pre-Series B round led by Cactus Partners to expand manufacturing capacity.[1][3][2] - March 2026
Launched Harbinger, its first complete satellite, on SpaceX's Transporter-16 rideshare; the spacecraft reached an orbit of about 510 km.[9][5][10] - June 2026
Named prime contractor for a Korean very-low-orbit demonstration satellite carrying TelePIX's Chouette optical payload, targeted no earlier than 2028.[5]
Facilities
- Peenya manufacturing facility · Peenya, Bengaluru, Karnataka
Thruster manufacturing plant on the city's outskirts with in-house vacuum chambers, after early testing on shared equipment at the Indian Institute of Science.[7]
Leadership
- Rohan M Ganapathy
Co-founder, chief executive officer and chief technology officer (as of 30 March 2026)[1][11] - Yashas Karanam
Co-founder and chief operating officer (as of June 2026)[5][11]
Sources
PayloadBellatrix Raises $20M For In-Space Propulsion Techpayloadspace.com
EntrackrUpdate: Bellatrix Aerospace raises $20 Mn in pre Series B roundentrackr.com
Inc42Bellatrix Aerospace Nets $20 Mn To Scale Satellite Propulsion Commerciallyinc42.com
EntrackrExclusive: Bellatrix Aerospace to secure fresh funds at flat valuationentrackr.com
PayloadBellatrix Aerospace Tapped to Build Korean VLEO Demo Satpayloadspace.com
IEEE SpectrumIndian Startup Plans to Build Ultra-Low Orbit Satellitespectrum.ieee.org
ThePrintBellatrix Aerospace is rising with ISRO. Nano thrusters are its big game nowtheprint.in
Republic WorldBellatrix Aerospace is open for business with successful space test on ISRO's PSLV-C58republicworld.com
OfficeChaiBellatrix Aerospace: The Bengaluru Startup Building India's Satellite Propulsion Backboneofficechai.com
WikipediaBellatrix Aerospaceen.wikipedia.org
Bellatrix AerospaceBellatrix Aerospace and NSIL sign MoU to integrate Bellatrix's OTV in NSIL's Launch missionsbellatrix.aero
Bellatrix AerospacePushpakbellatrix.aero
Bellatrix AerospaceOfficial sitebellatrix.aero
Coverage of Bellatrix Aerospace
Policy
Modi meets 20 space-startup leaders, urging wider uses of their technology
The August 21 meeting put the private space sector before the prime minister, but the official account announced no new funding, authorisations, contracts or binding policy changes.
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