IAS CLOUD

Bellatrix built two. Rudra is India's first high-performance green propulsion system, delivering hydrazine-equivalent thrust while cutting handling costs by over 60%. Jal is a microwave plasma thruster that uses water as propellant, which Bellatrix claims is the world's first such system built by a private company. Both have been tested in orbit: Rudra fired on ISRO's POEM-3 in January 2024, and again on POEM-4 in January 2025. Their third product, Pushpak, is an orbital transfer vehicle the company says can bring satellite deployment costs from $45,000 to $25,000 per kilogram. In October 2024, Bellatrix signed an MoU with ISRO's commercial arm, NewSpace India Limited, to integrate Pushpak into its launch missions. The company has raised $31 million to date, backed by BASF Venture Capital, Inflexor Ventures, and Cactus Partners. For India, a domestic green propulsion stack means less dependence on imported hydrazine, lower costs for Indian satellite startups, and export-ready technology in a global market actively moving away from toxic fuels. Kalam asked Rohan to prove his concept. More than a decade later, the proof has been fired in orbit.