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.
The agreements were signed on the sidelines of the Expo 2020 event in Dubai on Thursday.
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.
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ET could not ascertain further details on Dhruva Space’s partnership with L&T. A company spokesperson did not respond to calls and messages as of publishing this story. A Bellatrix spokesperson declined comment, stating that more details would be revealed at a later date.
While Bellatrix has developed unique thrusters for space vehicles and satellites, Dhruva is a developer of satellites and launch platforms. Bellatrix and Dhruva have also signed an MoU for space qualification of its thrusters and also
development of a “space taxi” for hurling multiple satellites into orbit on a single launch vehicle.
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.
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