Author Topic: Bellatrix Aerospace  (Read 20875 times)

Offline vyoma

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Bellatrix Aerospace
« on: 05/28/2016 12:52 am »
An Indian company named Bellatrix Aerospace is developing small/medium capacity launch vehicles, satellite propulsion and electric propulsion systems.

Launch vehicles:
Garuda:
Quote
1 tonne to 700km SSO; 3m payload fairing diameter; 2 stage - 1st stage powered by single Kalam engine, and 2nd stage powered by single Aeon engine with multiple restart capability.

Chetak:
Quote
150KG to 700km SSO; 2m payload fairing diameter; 2 stage - 1st stage powered by 4xAeon engines and 2nd stage powered by single downrated Aeon engine with restart capability.


Rocket engines:
Kalam:
Quote
Garuda, for the first time, will feature a unique thermodynamic cycle for its first stage engine. This engine called Kalam, will feature combustion tap-off cycle, i.e. it uses a pump-fed engine design with a tap-off cycle to take small amount of combustion gases from main combustion chamber to power the engine turbopumps. This produces high impulse and is much simpler than pre-burning staged combustion because of its single combustion chamber and graceful shut down mode. This engine is designed to generate 800kN thrust in vacuum.

Aeon:
Quote
The Aeon engine will feature turbo-pumps driven by Brushless DC motors powered by advanced batteries. This will eliminate the need for complex turbo-machinery and highly complex plumbing. This engine is designed to generate 41kN thrust in vacuum.

Satellite Propulsion:
They are working on electrical propulsion systems like Microwave Electrothermal Thrusters.


Website:
http://bellatrixaerospace.com/
https://www.facebook.com/bellatrixaerospace/

Hope they'll pull it off. Wishing them best of luck :)

PS: I am not affiliated with the company. I just stumbled on their website while browsing stuff about electrical propulsion, and thought of sharing it here since they seem to have some interesting ideas.
« Last Edit: 06/13/2022 08:02 am by vyoma »

Offline sanman

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Neat - are there any others in India like them?

So Garuda sounds like it could outperform Falcon-1. Couldn't see any pricing on their website, though.

Where does the name Bellatrix come from? It doesn't sound like a play on words, like Antrix - it's either a star in the constellation Orion, or it's that witch lady from the Harry Potter movies.

« Last Edit: 05/28/2016 01:58 am by sanman »

Offline vyoma

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Not sure about the pricing of launch vehicles. They do have interesting ideas like brushless DC motors driving turbo pumps (like Rocket Lab Electron).

Also, Bellatrix Aerospace is working with ISRO on MPD thruster development (the same is outlined in ISRO 2015-16 annual report about electrical propulsion).

Offline sanman

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Video mentions reusability for both the upper and lower stage of Garuda and for lower stage of Chetak:




So are these just CG rockets, or has anything ever flown yet?

If something had flown, the Indian media would be screaming about it.
« Last Edit: 05/28/2016 02:15 am by sanman »

Offline sanman

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Satellite propulsion video:


Offline Steven Pietrobon

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Some screen grabs. They are using methalox for both stages. Interesting use of water for their thruster, although they did their testing using Argon.
Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design #1:  Engineering is done with numbers.  Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

Offline sanman

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These are the only 2 news articles I could find which even mention them:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mysuru/Tech-fest-Vyuttha-begins/articleshow/52160779.cms

http://atimes.com/2016/01/india-and-the-global-spring-of-space-commerce/


No offense, but I'm very skeptical - their management look like they're recent college grads - way too young - I don't think they could build and launch a Falcon-1 class of rocket, even if they had great coaching. Doing aerospace isn't like doing software.
« Last Edit: 05/28/2016 03:29 am by sanman »

Offline vyoma

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Yes, founders are very young and recently graduated from college. They haven't built those rockets yet. But, the director/founder is one of the key members in ISRO's MPD electric propulsion project. I think they know what they're doing. With proper funding in place, I guess they have engineering talent to achieve what they're showcasing in their website.

Offline seshagirib

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The youth of the team is not necessarily a disadvantage:

Take a look at some aspects of NASA during its heydays.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/a4288/4318625/

Quote
"There is a photograph that shows splashdown inside the control room," says H. David Reed, a flight dynamics officer during Apollo 11. "There's a guy standing by the console with a huge piece of paper. That's me. I got the signatures of everybody in that room and in the back room. Every time I did that I would ask them their age. Well, I sat down and ran it out. The average age the night we had splashdown was 28." When Space Shuttle Atlantis left Earth on May 11, 2009, the average NASA civil servant's age was 47.

-I boldfaced the text for highlighting

astronaut on space ship earth

Offline Ohsin

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And according to ISRO chairman a milestone based mechanism might be put up that will enable them to contract out whole problems to anyone who is interested in providing solution for. It would have a substantial purse and time frame and might support startups such as this and incentivize innovation. Might be comparable to NASA's SBIR.

The space policy roadblock needs to clear up as well. In the meantime it would be great to give these folks exposure. Indian media can help here or just spread the word through social media.

ISRO would be keen in assuming role of mentor.. It has a lot to gain from this. Some students sat makers of past are ambitious entrepreneurs now but policy paralysis will cost everyone.
« Last Edit: 05/28/2016 05:45 am by Ohsin »
"Well, three cheers to Sharma, but our real baby is INSAT."

Offline sanman

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Remember, when it comes to being able to launch for US customers, the US govt will be keen to to look for any sign of a foreign launch provider receiving any kind of state subsidy that gives them unfair advantage over competing US launch providers. Because they know India's angling for that space, they've given ISRO a lot of scrutiny on this. Developed countries want to protect their fragile launch services sector, and the smaller scale ones who feel the most vulnerable tend to be more vocal.

That being said, I think the current govt in New Delhi is pretty enthused about space in general, and would also be naturally disposed towards developing the private sector. ISRO has a natural mentorship culture which could serve private partners well, and the current political climate would enhance the odds of success. Even crowd-funding could help fund a small initial launch. If these guys can get the seed capital to build a rocket and get something like an SBIR, or even get a real paying customer, then I guess they should go for it. Privatization is the big new thing, and if even one private launch provider becomes successful, you can bet that it will spawn multiple imitators.

And of course, as Abdul Kalam would probably tell us, they'll need to pursue an iterative improvement path, like the leading New Space companies are doing, to move from humble beginnings to bigger and better things.
« Last Edit: 05/28/2016 06:43 am by sanman »

Offline rocx

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I'm pretty sure they won't realise everything they promise, especially second stage reusability. But if they only do some of the things they mention there, good times are ahead.
Any day with a rocket landing is a fantastic day.

Offline sanman

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I just noticed the pricing on the site -   $5.4M for Garuda and $2M for Chetak

http://bellatrixaerospace.com/garuda.html
http://bellatrixaerospace.com/chetak.html

I wonder if those prices are representative of launch costs, or the cost of building each vehicle?

Incidentally, it says in Wikipedia that the tap-off thing is used by Blue Origin's BE-3, which is hydrolox:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combustion_tap-off_cycle

Quote
Blue Origin, with their New Shepard launch vehicle, has successfully flight-tested the BE-3 engine using a tap-off cycle. According to Blue Origin, the cycle is particularly suited to human spaceflight due to its simplicity, with only one combustion chamber and a less stressful engine shutdown process. However, engine startup is more complicated, and due to its nature of feeding gases from the main combustion chamber into the turbopumps, the turbine must be built to withstand higher-than-normal temperatures.[3]


I wonder how methalox compares to hydrolox under this type of combustion cycle?
« Last Edit: 06/23/2016 01:05 pm by sanman »

Offline sanman

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Noticed a recent update on their Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/bellatrixaerospace/

Quote
Rohan Hasabnis
Hey, I just wanted to ask if ISRO is going to use your electronic propulsion for satellite ?
Also, when are you going to test your launch vehicles ?
Please give us some updates.
Like · Reply · December 25, 2016 at 12:37pm

Bellatrix Aerospace
We are working with ISRO. 2 more years to get the system space qualified. Prior to that, we are looking out for other small satellite developers to host our nano thruster as an experimental payload.

As for as Chetak launcher is concerned, it's still in preliminary design phase and we're running simulations on its booster engine.

Thanks
Like · Reply · 1 · December 25, 2016 at 9:22pm

Offline sanman

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Some more news about Bellatrix - they're going into defense contracting - presumably it'll get them money faster:

http://www.thehindu.com/business/defence-firm-bellatrix-eyes-funding/article18516138.ece

Quote
defence company working in the area of satellite propulsion systems, is in the process of raising $2 million, said a company official.

“We are a boot-strapped company. We are expecting to raise $2 million within three months and have initiated talks with private equity and venture capital firms. The fund will be used for research and development and product development. It will last us 18-24 months,” said M.R. Gopinath, chief financial officer, Bellatrix Aerospace.

Well, hopefully they'll figure out a way to pursue their space dreams.




Offline sanman

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Here's another article on Bellatrix Aerospace:

Quote
Space No Bar

India’s young space entrepreneurs are charting new paths in the sector



The offices of Bellatrix Aerospace in Bengaluru may seem unassuming, especially when you are told that six young engineers here developed a water-powered, electric propulsion system for satellites. Indian Space Research Organisation has given the company a developmental order for this system. Bellatrix is also working with Hindusthan Institute of Technology, Coimbatore, to develop a micro-satellite that will be in orbit in the near future.

CEO Rohan Ganapathy, 25, says it all began the day he met Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon, in the US in 2011: “I was still in college in Coimbatore, when I got an opportunity to attend a seminar organised by NASA. Aldrin told me that that there is huge scope in space exploration and technology, as a large part of space is still unexplored. Though I was always interested in space sciences, that day fixed my goal. I knew I had to do something unique in this field.”

Ganapathy says his second wave of inspiration also came from the US. When private firm SpaceX built its own rockets, he felt it could be done in India, too. “I knew that space projects are long term, require immense dedication, patience and, more than anything else, huge funds,” he said. Among his earliest mentors he counts Sajjan Jindal, chairman, JSW Group, Dr P.S. Goel, former director, ISRO Satellite Centre, Bengaluru, and Dr Ugur Guven, a renowned aerospace and nuclear engineer.


...


Full article can be read here:


http://www.theweek.in/theweek/business/indias-young-space-entrepreneurs.html
« Last Edit: 06/23/2017 09:06 pm by sanman »

Offline vyoma

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This Bengaluru startup has developed a satellite propulsion technology that can make space missions cheaper

Quote
Among this new crop of startups is Bellatrix Aerospace, which is building new-age satellite propulsion systems and launch vehicles. It has patented an electric propulsion system — the Microwave Electro-thermal Thruster (MET) — which it claims is more efficient than traditional chemical thrusters as it provides a higher ‘mileage’ and lasts longer.

Quote
“Predominantly, there are two kinds of electrical thrusters that have been traditionally researched and used — the gridded ion thruster and the Hall Effect thruster,” says Ganapathy.

Quote
Bellatrix has gone a different way with its thruster. “We have been working on a different kind of thruster called the Microwave Electro-thermal Thruster (MET), which is much more efficient than other electrical thrusters,” explains Ganapathy, about the novel satellite propulsion design. “The thrust generated by electric thrusters is very low, as little as pulling two sheets of paper. But since there is no friction in space, this is enough to move the satellite,” he adds.

In addition, MET is designed to be a zero-erosion thruster, which gives it a longer lifespan. “Electric thrusters are usually prone to erosion. Every time they are fired, a small portion of the metal gets eroded. Our thruster does not erode, allowing it to last longer,” says Ganapathy.

Quote
Apart from the MET, the team is also working on other types of thrusters like the Hall Effect thruster, a nano-thruster for nano-satellites, and a green monopropellant thruster, a chemical propulsion system that is environmentally friendly.

Offline PonRam

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They will go places with their satellite propulsion technology.

But to put launch vehicles and to also quote a price is too premature. May be in the very very long run, it may work. They need to have the facilities and infrastructure in a low cost place. That rules out renting facilities from outside india. Don't know whether they can rent infra and facilities from ISRO, given that ISRO is already tied up in its own agenda.

Offline sanman

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They need to build a rocket before worrying too much about the launch pad. They could probably make use of an ISRO pad if necessary. After all, ISRO has been directed to collaborate with the private sector as much as possible.

They might be better off starting out doing small nanosat launches like RocketLab, etc want to do. Then they can work their way up from there.

Offline sanman

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Offline sanman

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I noticed Bellatrix Aerospace has a recent Facebook update, featuring a job ad for a chemist position:

https://www.facebook.com/bellatrixaerospace/photos/a.1193837714100013.1073741831.426020057548453/1193837684100016/?type=1&theater




So I wonder if this is related to fuels?
« Last Edit: 07/08/2018 07:39 am by sanman »

Offline sanman

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Rohan Ganapathy, CEO of Bellatrix Aerospace at the Toulouse Space Show 2018



@5:00 he mentions they expect to fly their initial launch vehicle Chetak by Q1 2022 (also stated at bottom of slide)

Note that the slide says Chetak now does 225kg max to <I can't make it out>

Slide also says that restartable Aeon engine under development is methalox.

Also from slide: "Chetak employs a novel reusability concept. With reusability, Chetak will make small satellite launches more frequent and affordable than ever before."

(What is their novel reusability concept? Is it a secret? Or do they just mean that reusability in general is novel?)
« Last Edit: 08/27/2018 05:06 am by sanman »

Offline TheVarun

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 Fabulous news from Bellatrix!  I wonder if they've built this on their own, or as a consortium. Lifting 200+kg on their first mission, is not bad. Re-usability is certainly novel where India is concerned, and for most countries!  Only two have made re-usable vehicles, I'm fairly certain!  Also, from a private sector Indian company, very impressive.

Offline sanman

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Fabulous news from Bellatrix!  I wonder if they've built this on their own, or as a consortium. Lifting 200+kg on their first mission, is not bad. Re-usability is certainly novel where India is concerned, and for most countries!  Only two have made re-usable vehicles, I'm fairly certain!  Also, from a private sector Indian company, very impressive.

Previously they were quoting 150kg to 700km SSO, and now they're quoting 225kg, but I couldn't read to what orbit.

According to what he said, they're collaborating with ISRO (or at least receiving mentorship from them) for the purpose of building the rest of the rocket, since their main focus of knowledge is in engines. It sounds like everything is still in development.

I'd like to know more about their engine, since it's methane-lox. We know their engines are going to use tap-off turbopump, as well as electric turbopump like Rocketlab. Nobody's mentioned how they'll deal with battery weight (will it be same as Rocketlab?)
And of course they want to do reusability, not mass-production like Rocketlab. (But what is their recovery method? Parachute/parasail? How do they plan to avoid salt water corrosion?)

It's interesting to see how private smallsat enterprises are then collectively diversifying into all possible combinations of available technologies.
« Last Edit: 08/27/2018 09:52 pm by sanman »

Offline sanman

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« Last Edit: 08/27/2018 10:13 pm by sanman »

Offline sanman

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From the annual Kalpana Chawla Space Policy Dialogue:

"Space Industry and Propulsion: The Missing Link"




(Unfortunately, you can only see the speakers and not the slides)

@11:10 he mentions insurance coverage as key roadblock for them
« Last Edit: 08/27/2018 11:01 pm by sanman »

Offline ChrisWilson68

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Fabulous news from Bellatrix!  I wonder if they've built this on their own, or as a consortium. Lifting 200+kg on their first mission, is not bad. Re-usability is certainly novel where India is concerned, and for most countries!  Only two have made re-usable vehicles, I'm fairly certain!  Also, from a private sector Indian company, very impressive.

It would be impressive if they had actually done any of that.

What they've actually done is limited to small electric thrusters for satellites.  That's useful stuff, and nothing to look down on.

But all the things you list as being impressive -- they haven't done any of those.  It's just all slideware right now.

Offline K210

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Wonder if Bellatrix would be interested in isros new SSLV rocket? They could manufacture components and build up finances to get their other projects off the ground in the long term.

Offline sanman

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Wonder if Bellatrix would be interested in isros new SSLV rocket? They could manufacture components and build up finances to get their other projects off the ground in the long term.

Yeah, I was wondering the same thing. Given how low-cost SSLV is touted to be, it would be harder for a private startup to compete against it. Maybe what Bellatrix needs to be able to do is go with the flow - and/or tap into the same supply chain if they want to develop their own vehicle.

Maybe they could develop an iterative evolutionary path, like SpaceX did. Start out with something similar to SSLV, but have it designed so that they can gradually migrate to their throttlable methalox electric turbopump idea, developing their own IP along the way and merging it in.

What's the benefit in all SSLVs being identical clones of each other? Shouldn't there be room for some variety in designs, to afford different developmental paths? Indians always love to use the buzzword "ecosystem" - but any ecosystem is the product of evolutionary Darwinism, rather than just appearing instantly overnight. The comparatively lower capital costs of SSLVs may afford more opportunities for branching out.
« Last Edit: 08/30/2018 09:57 am by sanman »

Offline sanjaykumar

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https://www.livemint.com/news/india/india-s-space-startups-ignite-investor-interest-1561269988291.html

Bengaluru-based Bellatrix Aerospace, which wants to propel satellites into orbit using electric and non-toxic chemical thrusters, has raised $3 million from a group of investors, co-founder Yashas Karanam told Reuters.

Venture capital fund IDFC Parampara is leading Bellatrix's pre-Series A round. The family office of Suman Kant Munjal, who belongs to the billionaire family that controls Indian motorcycle maker Hero MotoCorp, and Deepika Padukone, one of Bollywood's biggest stars, are two of the other seven investors.

Meanwhile, Mumbai-based Kawa Space, which designs and operates earth observation satellites, has closed a seed round of an undisclosed amount, one of its investors, Vishesh Rajaram, managing partner at Speciale Invest, told Reuters.

Bellatrix and Kawa are two of over a dozen Indian startups developing satellites, rockets and related support systems which can power space missions serving a range of industries.

Offline vyoma

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http://www.forbesindia.com/article/startups/spacetech-startups-in-india-are-gaining-ground/55181/1

Quote
This June, Bellatrix announced that it had secured $3 million in pre-series A funding from a clutch of investors led by venture capital (VC) firm IDFC-Parampara, and including the Munjal Group and actor Deepika Padukone’s KA Enterprises. One of the reasons investors found Bellatrix attractive was because it’s the only venture in India to have a development contract from Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) for its microwave plasma thruster, says Jatin Desai, general partner at Parampara Capital.

Offline sanman

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Bellatrix Aerospace Successfully Tests India’s First Privately Developed Hall-Effect Thruster

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/startups/bellatrix-aerospace-successfully-tests-indias-first-privately-developed-hall-effect-thruster/articleshow/82999401.cms

Quote
Bengaluru: Space technology startup Bellatrix Aerospace has successfully tested India’s first privately developed hall-effect thruster, an electric propulsion engine for micro satellites weighing 50-500 kg.

The thruster will be ready for commercial use by the end of this year, the company said.

Bellatrix said it has completed ground tests for the new thruster in line with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and European Space Agency (ESA) standards at its lab at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

It is now readying to test its hall-effect thruster in space, for which it has signed an agreement with a European company for the device to be fitted to a satellite which will be launched in the coming months.

“We have optimised this propulsion system to specifically cater to the microsatellite segment. There were a lot of challenges in scaling down the technology, both in the plasma physics and the thruster construction,” said Rohan M Ganapathy, co-founder and chief executive officer at Bellatrix Aerospace. “It has taken us more than four years to develop this from scratch.”

Hall-effect thrusters were first developed by the erstwhile Soviet Union in the 1970s. While they’ve become a mainstay for satellite propulsion over the years, the technology has traditionally been used only for large satellites weighing in excess of 2,000 kg.

Bellatrix said its new thruster will provide a reliable propulsion solution to small satellite manufacturers, a market which is seen as booming after players like Starlink, OneWeb and even Amazon have gotten into a race to create a web of satellites that can beam broadband internet down to earth.

Offline libra

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As launch as Bellatrix don't launch (from Esrange, Sweden) a probe to Sirius or a Black hole, it should be fine. (I get my coat...)

Offline vyoma

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Bellatrix Aerospace, Dhruva Space sign MoUs with Larsen & Toubro: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/startups/bellatrix-aerospace-dhruva-space-sign-mous-with-larsen-toubro/articleshow/87200738.cms

Quote
Bellatrix Aerospace, which became the first private Indian company to develop and test a hall-effect thruster (a type of electric propulsion system), said late on Thursday evening that the partnership with L&T will allow it to work closely with them for “building great products for the world”.

“We are confident that this unique collaboration combining L&T's proven capabilities in catering to Indian space programs with our strengths in advanced propulsion and allied technologies can help enable cost-effective and sustainable access to space,” Bellatrix said, without divulging any further details.

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A person in the know of the matter told ET that the partnership with Bellatrix was not just to leverage space-grade manufacturing capabilities that L&T has built up over the last few decades, but was towards the joint development of products and manufacturing to service demand for private space access.

“The partnership is more geared towards joint development and manufacturing of some new products together, which is a unique combination of a startup partnering with a large firm after the new space laws have come in,” said the person, requesting anonymity as the details of the deal are not yet public.

Quote
Bellatrix also has partnerships with Skyroot Aerospace, which is building affordable small satellite launch vehicles for its orbital transfer vehicle. It had signed a third MoU with space-based earth-observation company SatSure for providing its propulsion systems for its small satellites that will be launched into lower-earth orbit sometime in December 2022.

Bellatrix is also the world’s first firm to develop a Microwave Plasma Thruster that uses only water as a fuel for which it has bagged an order from Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The company has also done a lot of work on developing alternative fuels for rockets at its propulsion lab setup at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru.
« Last Edit: 10/31/2021 07:05 pm by vyoma »

Offline vyoma

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https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/bellatrix-tests-indias-1st-high-performance-green-propulsion-for-satellites/articleshow/90824485.cms

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Bellatrix tests India’s 1st high-performance green propulsion for satellites

BENGALURU: In a significant milestone, space transportation company Bellatrix Aerospace has successfully tested India’s first high-performance green propulsion system for satellites, a greener alternative to conventional hydrazine-based satellite propulsion systems.

The firm developed a “proprietary high performance green monopropellant” with the guidance from Charlie Oommen, professor, department of aerospace engineering at IISc. The test comes at a time various governments are considering banning hydrazine due to its toxic impact.

Quote
Elaborating on the test done in a vacuum environment, Saagar Malaichamy, co-founder and senior scientist at the firm’s mono propellant systems division, said “These tests validate functioning of many critical areas such as high temperature metallurgy, catalysis and energetic materials. We’ve performed multiple consecutive tests and the results are fairly consistent. We are currently working towards optimising parameters to meet stringent requirements for acceptance in spaceflight.”
Saagar added that the product under testing is a 1N thruster suitable for use in micro/small satellites weighing between 50kg to 1,000kg and supports agile manoeuvres in space. “We’re also developing larger thrusters that could propel heavy satellites,” he said.

Quote
The major combustion byproducts of the new Bellatrix thruster are water vapour based, making it green and environment friendly and its unique properties make it suitable for deep space missions with long coasting requirements.

Offline vyoma

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Offline vyoma

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https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/funding/in-space-propulsion-startup-bellatrix-seals-8-million-funding-round/articleshow/91939156.cms

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In-space propulsion startup Bellatrix seals $8 million funding round

Chennai: Bengaluru-based in-space propulsion startup Bellatrix Aerospace has concluded a $8 million funding round led by BASF Venture Capital GmbH, the corporate venture company of BASF SE, and early-stage VC Inflexor Ventures.

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