Founder Stack

Getting a satellite into orbit is only half the problem. Once it gets there, propulsion determines almost everything that follows: how it manoeuvres, maintains position, deploys precisely, and extends its operational life. For decades, the industry relied heavily on hydrazine, a toxic and expensive chemical propellant that poses significant manufacturing, handling, and environmental challenges. With thousands of satellites now expected to enter low Earth and geostationary orbit in the coming years, the demand for cleaner, safer, and more efficient alternatives has never been more urgent. It is precisely this kind of deep, unglamorous infrastructure problem that theMinistry of Education'sBharat Innovates 2026initiative was built to spotlight, connecting India's most capable deep-tech founders with global investors and partners at an event in Nice, France, from 14 to 16 June 2026, as part of the India-France Year of Innovation. Among the startups selected for this platform is Bengaluru-basedBellatrix Aerospace, founded in 2015 at the Indian Institute of Science by Rohan Ganapathy and Yashas Karanam. IISc is among India's most research-intensive universities, and one of the institutions that has helped drive India's remarkable rise in global university rankings over the past decade, a rise reflected in the growing number of Indian institutions now featuring in the QS World University Rankings. Alongside policy reforms like NEP 2020 and international research collaborations under SPARC, it is this institutional ecosystem that Bharat Innovates 2026, spanning 13 frontier sectors including Space, Defence, Advanced Computing, and Next-Generation Communications, is designed to amplify and take global. Bellatrix Aerospace set out to rethink how satellites move and operate in space. The company's focus was not merely to improve existing propulsion technologies, but to develop systems capable of fundamentally changing what satellite missions could achieve, from nanosatellites to large communication satellites headed for geostationary orbit. Over the past decade, Bellatrix Aerospace has built a propulsion portfolio spanning multiple technologies, each designed to solve a specific gap in satellite mobility and in-space operations. Among its most notable innovations is Jal, the company's Microwave Plasma Thruster, which uses water as propellant. Bellatrix says it is the world's first privately built plasma thruster to do so. The system is lightweight, corrosion-free, and designed to last significantly longer than conventional electric propulsion systems, addressing one of the satellite industry's most persistent reliability concerns. The company has also developed Rudra, a high-performance green thruster intended as a direct replacement for hydrazine-based chemical propulsion. It delivers comparable performance without the toxicity associated with traditional propellants. Arka, Bellatrix's Hall Effect Thruster, is designed for extended operational life in orbit