Bellatrix Aerospace is building a ‘space taxi’ for satellites

On a five-acre site at the aerospace park close to Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), a research and development (R&D) centre and manufacturing factory for space taxis (orbital transfer vehicles, or OTVs) and propulsion systems for rockets and satellites are anticipated to start up operations by the end of 2023.

The new facility will be built by Bengaluru-based Bellatrix Aerospace, a space technology company that specialises in OTVs and in-orbit propulsion systems, and is projected to cost $76 million (about Rs 630 crore) once fully operational.

The firm also agreed to power SatSure's network of remote sensing satellites last week.

Bellatrix's space vehicle is expected to launch to the lower orbit of the earth in 2023"taxi in space" will offer ridesharing for small satellites and drop each one of the passengers to their intended slots in space,

Yashas Karanam, co-founder of Bellatrix said in a report in the Economic Times

Bellatrix has built electric as well as chemically powered engines or thrusters to manoeuvre satellites in space.

Founded in 2015, Bellatrix is the second company in the world building an orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) after US-based Momentus, which is awaiting approval in the United States.

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Edited By : Bidyut B. Gogoi

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