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32 articles

ISRO Clears Baseline Design Review for BAS-01, India's First Space Station Module

Aug 4, 2026

5 min read

ISRO Clears Baseline Design Review for BAS-01, India's First Space Station Module

ISRO has completed the Baseline Design Review and systems engineering of BAS-01, the first module of the Bharatiya Antariksh Station, releasing 31 baseline design documents and beginning subsystem design and prototype hardware development. The first module is targeted for a 2028 launch on the LVM3, with the full station planned by 2035.

ISROBharatiya Antariksh Station

Manik Gupta

Author

India Issues Its First Space Re-Entry Rulebook as Agnikul Prepares an Ocean Booster Recovery

Aug 2, 2026

5 min read

India Issues Its First Space Re-Entry Rulebook as Agnikul Prepares an Ocean Booster Recovery

IN-SPACe has published India's first authorisation framework for planned atmospheric re-entry, requiring operators to keep ground-casualty risk below 1-in-10,000 and accept no-fault liability — arriving just as Agnikul Cosmos readies India's first ocean booster-recovery attempt on Mission-02.

IN-SPACeAgnikul Cosmos

Manik Gupta

Author

Jul 31, 2026

4 min read

IN-SPACe Crosses 130 Authorisations as India's Private Space Sector Tops 450 Startups

India's space regulator IN-SPACe has issued more than 130 authorisations and the private space sector has crossed 450 startups, with private investment topping $618.5 million since the 2020 reforms, official figures show.

IN-SPACeISRO

Manik Gupta

Author

India''s Private Spacetech Funding Hits a Record $871 Million as Launch Success Rewires Investor Confidence

Jul 29, 2026

5 min read

India''s Private Spacetech Funding Hits a Record $871 Million as Launch Success Rewires Investor Confidence

India''s private space-technology startups have raised a record $871 million across 241 rounds, a Tracxn report says, as Skyroot''s Vikram-1 orbital success reshapes investor sentiment. Bengaluru alone accounts for more than half of all capital raised.

TracxnSkyroot Aerospace

Manik Gupta

Author

The ePlane Company Unveils India's First Full-Scale e200X Air Taxi Prototype

Jul 27, 2026

4 min read

The ePlane Company Unveils India's First Full-Scale e200X Air Taxi Prototype

IIT Madras-incubated The ePlane Company has unveiled the first full-scale prototype of its e200X electric air taxi at a new Chennai facility, with certified flight testing targeted for 2027.

The ePlane CompanyIIT Madras

Manik Gupta

Author

IIT-Madras Startup D-Propulse Pushes Its Rotating Detonation Engine to TRL-5

Jul 23, 2026

4 min read

IIT-Madras Startup D-Propulse Pushes Its Rotating Detonation Engine to TRL-5

IIT-Madras-incubated startup D-Propulse has advanced its rotating detonation engine with an aerospike nozzle to TRL-5, sustaining 5 kN of thrust in tests at a DRDO facility — a step towards efficient propulsion for missiles, drones and reusable launch systems.

D-PropulseIIT Madras

Manik Gupta

Author

ISRO Charts a Seven-Launch Year and Says the Next Mission Is Two Months Away

Jul 22, 2026

5 min read

ISRO Charts a Seven-Launch Year and Says the Next Mission Is Two Months Away

ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan says the agency is targeting seven launches this financial year, with the next mission due within two months, two satellites already built and a second spaceport at Kulasekharapatnam nearing commissioning.

ISROV Narayanan

Manik Gupta

Author

Mission Aagaman: Skyroot's Vikram-1 Becomes India's First Private Rocket to Reach Orbit

Jul 19, 2026

5 min read

Mission Aagaman: Skyroot's Vikram-1 Becomes India's First Private Rocket to Reach Orbit

Skyroot Aerospace's Vikram-1 reached a ~450 km orbit on 18 July 2026, making it the first privately developed Indian rocket to reach space and India the third country with private orbital launch capability. Mission Aagaman carried CubeSats from Skyroot and Grahaa Space and an in-orbit soft-robotic-capture experiment.

Skyroot AerospaceVikram-1

Manik Gupta

Author

Agnikul Brings in Former ISRO Chief S. Somanath as a Board Observer — Right Before Its Hardest Flight

Jul 18, 2026

5 min read

Agnikul Brings in Former ISRO Chief S. Somanath as a Board Observer — Right Before Its Hardest Flight

Former ISRO chairman S. Somanath has joined Chennai-based launch startup Agnikul Cosmos as a board observer, weeks before Mission 02 — a flight that aims to recover an orbital-class booster and turn a spent upper stage into an on-orbit platform.

Agnikul CosmosS. Somanath

Manik Gupta

Author

ISRO Clears Three Quiet-but-Critical Gaganyaan Tests, and the Splashdown Comes Into Focus

Jul 17, 2026

5 min read

ISRO Clears Three Quiet-but-Critical Gaganyaan Tests, and the Splashdown Comes Into Focus

ISRO has qualified three critical Gaganyaan crew-module systems — the flotation bags that self-right the capsule after splashdown, the umbilical-separation mechanism between the crew and service modules, and the apex-cover jettison that clears the parachutes. Each clears a must-work step on the road to India's first crewed flight.

ISROGaganyaan

Manik Gupta

Author

India's Sovereign Space Fund Makes Its First Bet: ₹60 Crore Into Dhruva Space

Jul 16, 2026

4 min read

India's Sovereign Space Fund Makes Its First Bet: ₹60 Crore Into Dhruva Space

India's first dedicated space-tech venture fund, the ₹1,600 crore Antariksh Venture Capital Fund anchored by IN-SPACe, has made its maiden investment: ₹60 crore into Hyderabad's Dhruva Space. The deal signals that state-anchored, hardware-friendly capital is finally reaching Indian space startups.

Dhruva SpaceAntariksh Venture Capital Fund

Manik Gupta

Author

ISRO Drops a Crew Module Under Parachute, Clearing the Main Canopy for Gaganyaan's First Flight

Jul 13, 2026

5 min read

ISRO Drops a Crew Module Under Parachute, Clearing the Main Canopy for Gaganyaan's First Flight

ISRO has confirmed the successful conduct of IMAT-05, the fifth integrated main-parachute airdrop test for Gaganyaan, held on 7 July 2026 at ADRDE's drop zone in Sheopur, Madhya Pradesh. The test qualifies the crew module's main parachute for the first uncrewed G1 mission, part of India's build-up to a crewed flight in 2027.

ISROGaganyaan

Manik Gupta

Author

BAAS Technologies Banks ₹5 Crore to Build Reusable Rockets — and the Engines to Fly Them

Jul 11, 2026

5 min read

BAAS Technologies Banks ₹5 Crore to Build Reusable Rockets — and the Engines to Fly Them

BAAS Technologies, a 2024-founded Nashik startup, has raised ₹5 crore in a pre-seed round led by Inflection Point Ventures with SINE IIT Bombay, to build reusable launch vehicles and their propulsion in-house — and a 100 kN engine test facility in Pune.

BAAS TechnologiesInflection Point Ventures

Manik Gupta

Author

ISRO Fires the CE20 for LVM3-M7, Debuting a Nozzle Shield to Guard Its 22-Tonne Upgrade

Jul 8, 2026

5 min read

ISRO Fires the CE20 for LVM3-M7, Debuting a Nozzle Shield to Guard Its 22-Tonne Upgrade

ISRO has cleared the CE20 cryogenic engine for its next heavy-lift flight, LVM3-M7, firing it at up to 22 tonnes of thrust and debuting a Nozzle Protection System for the first time in an acceptance test.

ISROCE20

Manik Gupta

Author

Agnikul and Finland's ICEYE Sign On to Build India a Sovereign Radar-Satellite Chain

Jul 6, 2026

4 min read

Agnikul and Finland's ICEYE Sign On to Build India a Sovereign Radar-Satellite Chain

Chennai's Agnikul Cosmos has signed an MoU with Finland's ICEYE to explore an end-to-end, India-built synthetic aperture radar constellation — satellites made locally and launched on Agnikul's indigenous Agnibaan rocket.

Agnikul CosmosICEYE

Manik Gupta

Author

ISRO Fires the Motor for SOLVE, the Small Rocket That Will Rehearse Gaganyaan's Splashdown

Jul 6, 2026

4 min read

ISRO Fires the Motor for SOLVE, the Small Rocket That Will Rehearse Gaganyaan's Splashdown

ISRO has test-fired the solid motor for SOLVE, a purpose-built sub-orbital vehicle designed to loft a Gaganyaan crew module to 10-17 km and validate the capsule's multi-stage parachute landing system.

ISROSOLVE

Manik Gupta

Author

DRDO Eyes ISRO's New Kulasekharapatnam Spaceport for Rapid-Response Spy Satellites

Jul 5, 2026

3 min read

DRDO Eyes ISRO's New Kulasekharapatnam Spaceport for Rapid-Response Spy Satellites

At the CII Tamil Nadu Defence X Conclave 2026, DRDO's Dr B.K. Das said the agency is drawing up a roadmap to use ISRO's upcoming Kulasekharapatnam spaceport for rapid-response military reconnaissance satellites, exploiting the site's fuel-saving southward polar trajectories. DRDO is also finalising an industry-friendly procurement policy to draw in private firms.

DRDOISRO

Manik Gupta

Author

Skyroot Opens a July Launch Window for Vikram-1's Maiden Orbital Flight — Mission Aagaman

Jul 4, 2026

3 min read

Skyroot Opens a July Launch Window for Vikram-1's Maiden Orbital Flight — Mission Aagaman

Skyroot Aerospace has opened a 12 July–4 August 2026 launch window for Mission Aagaman, the maiden orbital flight of Vikram-1, India's first privately built orbital-class rocket, from Sriharikota. All stages are stacked at the pad.

Skyroot AerospaceVikram-1

Manik Gupta

Author

ISRO Fires Its Semi-Cryogenic Engine to 175 Tonnes, Within Reach of a Full 200-Tonne Powerplant

Jun 28, 2026

4 min read

ISRO Fires Its Semi-Cryogenic Engine to 175 Tonnes, Within Reach of a Full 200-Tonne Powerplant

ISRO fired the power head of its semi-cryogenic engine at 175 tonnes of thrust on 24 June 2026 — 88 percent of full rating — clearing the way for a full 200-tonne test of a cleaner, LOX-kerosene engine meant to boost the LVM3 and the Next Generation Launch Vehicle.

ISROSemi-Cryogenic Engine

Manik Gupta

Author

QOSMIC Raises $3.33M to Build India's Laser Backbone for Space Data

Jun 26, 2026

3 min read

QOSMIC Raises $3.33M to Build India's Laser Backbone for Space Data

Bengaluru deep-tech startup QOSMIC has raised $3.33 million from Accel, Prosus and others to build laser-based optical communication systems for satellites — ground stations and terminals meant to break the radio-frequency downlink bottleneck of the space economy.

QOSMICAccel

Manik Gupta

Author

IN-SPACe Puts the PSLV — and the LVM3 — Up for Private Technology Transfer

Jun 26, 2026

4 min read

IN-SPACe Puts the PSLV — and the LVM3 — Up for Private Technology Transfer

IN-SPACe has issued Expressions of Interest to transfer full technology for ISRO's PSLV — and, for the first time, the heavy-lift LVM3 — to majority Indian-owned private firms, with ISRO hand-holding for 30 to 42 months. The move aims to free ISRO for Gaganyaan and deep space while industry runs operational launches.

IN-SPACeISRO

Manik Gupta

Author

ISRO Opens India's Skies to AI Builders: The Bharatiya Antariksh Hackathon and the SAR-to-Optical Architecture That Could Redefine Tropical Earth Observation

Jun 22, 2026

7 min read

ISRO Opens India's Skies to AI Builders: The Bharatiya Antariksh Hackathon and the SAR-to-Optical Architecture That Could Redefine Tropical Earth Observation

On June 21 2026, ISRO opened its proprietary SAR and hyperspectral datasets to domestic AI developers via the Bharatiya Antariksh Hackathon. Here is what the cloud-removal mandate means technically, commercially, and strategically — and why it is a bigger deal than the hackathon framing suggests.

ISROBharatiya Antariksh Hackathon

Manik Gupta

Author

The ePlane Company Clears DGCA's Design Bar as It Lines Up a Series C

Jun 10, 2026

4 min read

The ePlane Company Clears DGCA's Design Bar as It Lines Up a Series C

The ePlane Company is the first private Indian entity to win a DGCA Design Organisation Approval for its e200X eVTOL, a durable regulatory moat now anchoring a planned $40-50M Series C toward fleet commercialisation.

eVTOLUrban Air Mobility

Manik Gupta

Author

Agnikul's Four-Engine Cluster Test and the Electric-Pump Bet on Cheap Orbit

May 25, 2026

7 min read

Agnikul's Four-Engine Cluster Test and the Electric-Pump Bet on Cheap Orbit

Agnikul Cosmos ground-tested a four-Agnilet cluster, using an electric pump-fed cycle to turn thrust-matching into software-defined throttling. With a $500M-plus valuation and ICEYE and Safran MoUs, it de-risks a targeted late-2026 orbital launch.

Agnikul CosmosRocket Propulsion

Manik Gupta

Author

Inside GalaxEye's Drishti: The Physics of the World's First OptoSAR Satellite

May 6, 2026

7 min read

Inside GalaxEye's Drishti: The Physics of the World's First OptoSAR Satellite

GalaxEye's ~190 kg Mission Drishti co-locates X-band SAR and a 7-band multispectral imager on one bench, fusing them in orbit. The SyncFusion architecture kills ground-station fusion latency and underwrites a defensible Earth-observation moat.

GalaxEyeEarth Observation

Manik Gupta

Author

Skyroot's $60M Unicorn Round: The Cap Table Behind India's First Private Orbital Shot

May 8, 2026

6 min read

Skyroot's $60M Unicorn Round: The Cap Table Behind India's First Private Orbital Shot

Skyroot's $60M raise at a $1.1B pre-money made it India's first space-tech unicorn — co-led by Sherpalo and GIC, with BlackRock joining. The valuation is set ahead of orbital revenue; Vikram-1's maiden flight is the binding de-risking event.

Skyroot AerospaceVikram-1

Manik Gupta

Author

India's Earth-Observation Edge: Pixxel's NRO Win, GalaxEye's OptoSAR and NISAR's Open Data

Jul 8, 2026

6 min read

India's Earth-Observation Edge: Pixxel's NRO Win, GalaxEye's OptoSAR and NISAR's Open Data

Pixxel's US NRO hyperspectral contract, GalaxEye's first-on-orbit OptoSAR fusion and NISAR's 100,000+ free L-band SAR products reframe Indian Earth observation as a defensible ISR play with sensor-fusion moats.

Earth ObservationPixxel

Manik Gupta

Author

Digantara's Bet on Space-Situational Awareness and Missile Defense

Jun 11, 2026

4 min read

Digantara's Bet on Space-Situational Awareness and Missile Defense

Digantara's $50M Series B funds 15 tracking satellites and a pivot to space-based missile warning. The debris-tracking base business is high-margin; the defense move is the asymmetric, riskier bet.

DigantaraSpace Situational Awareness

Manik Gupta

Author

HAL Takes Over the SSLV: Commercializing India's Small-Satellite Launcher

Jul 14, 2026

4 min read

HAL Takes Over the SSLV: Commercializing India's Small-Satellite Launcher

HAL won the ₹511 crore transfer of ISRO's SSLV, the first full handover of an Indian launch vehicle to one firm. The structure frees ISRO for advanced missions and makes HAL an integrated launch-services player.

HALSSLV

Manik Gupta

Author

Agnikul Raises at ~$500M as Tamil Nadu Takes a Rare Government Equity Stake

May 15, 2026

2 min read

Agnikul Raises at ~$500M as Tamil Nadu Takes a Rare Government Equity Stake

Agnikul is reportedly raising $50-75M at ~$500M, but the standout is Tamil Nadu's TIDCO taking a ₹25 crore equity stake, a rare government bet on a private Indian launch startup's 3D-printed engine moat.

Agnikul3D Printing

Manik Gupta

Author

Skyroot's Vikram-1 and India's First Private Orbital Shot

May 7, 2026

6 min read

Skyroot's Vikram-1 and India's First Private Orbital Shot

Skyroot became India's first space-tech unicorn on a ~$60M raise at ~$1.1B, and placed its carbon-composite Vikram-1 at Sriharikota. A June 2026 orbital attempt now de-risks the whole private-launch thesis.

SkyrootVikram-1

Manik Gupta

Author

IN-SPACe Funds Indigenous Satellite Buses to Crack Constellation Economics

Jun 4, 2026

2 min read

IN-SPACe Funds Indigenous Satellite Buses to Crack Constellation Economics

IN-SPACe's SBaaS contracts give Dhruva Space, Astrome and Azista ₹5 crore each for modular small-sat buses, while Dhruva's ₹105 crore Project Garud targets a 500 kg-class platform for constellations.

IN-SPACeDhruva Space

Manik Gupta

Author