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OrbitAID Aerospace, an Indian startup focused on On-Orbit Servicing and Refueling (OOSR), inaugurated a 6,500 sq ft R&D facility in Bengaluru on 17 September. The site, funded with an investment of over $2 million, was opened by ISRO Chairman Dr. V. Narayanan and is intended to support satellite life-extension and rendezvous, proximity-operations, and docking (RPOD) work.
Facility and capabilities
The new R&D centre is described as India’s largest commercial RPOD infrastructure and “one of the world’s biggest” dedicated to servicing and refuelling operations. The facility comprises a high-end control room for RPOD operations, a Class 10,000 cleanroom, and dedicated fuel-transfer facilities for satellite assembly and integration. OrbitAID says the site will be used to develop and validate subsystems required for docking and in-orbit refuelling.
The company framed the expansion as a strategic step following ISRO’s SPADeX mission, positioning the facility as part of India’s broader move toward space sustainability. The site aims to enable lifetime refuelling services for current and upcoming satellites, work that requires validated docking interfaces and fuel-handling capabilities at mission-relevant technology readiness levels.
Sakthikumar Ramachandran, Founder & CEO, OrbitAID, said: “This facility begins a new story in OrbitAID’s journey in making India the champion of space sustainability at a global stage. With this new development and our TRL 7 docking and refueling interface SIDRP, we are positioned to provide life extension services for the current and upcoming satellites in both Indian and global markets.”
Expansion plans and ecosystem partnerships
OrbitAID has announced plans to establish a manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu to serve as a private propellant-handling and satellite-servicing hub. The company said this expansion will include ecosystem partnerships and collaborations with local universities, startups, and global partners in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Together, the Bengaluru R&D centre and the Tamil Nadu manufacturing plans are intended to support the development, testing, and scaling of critical subsystems for future missions.
Funding and industry support
OrbitAID raised initial funding earlier in the year from Unicorn India Ventures. Bhaskar Majumdar, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures, commented:
“We are proud to be one of the early backers of OrbitAID. They have demonstrated that audacious goals can be achieved without becoming a capital-guzzling machine. The discipline and focus of the team have led them to open a state-of-the-art R&D facility and to have it inaugurated by Dr Narayanan, which is just the encouragement and inspiration OrbitAID needed. We congratulate them and will continue to back Sakthi in his future expansion plans.”
The inauguration drew diplomatic and industry representation, including consular officials from Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, representatives from StartupTN, Unicorn India Ventures, ISRO, the Indian Space Association (ISpA), defence officials, policymakers, academia, and executives from the space ecosystem.
OrbitAID’s Bengaluru R&D facility and planned Tamil Nadu expansion formalise a private capability in OOSR and RPOD infrastructure in India. With ISRO engagement and early investor support, the startup’s next steps — technical validation of SIDRP, safe propellant handling, and operational partnerships with satellite operators — will be key indicators of whether the company can move from R&D into routine, serviceable operations at scale.