Building beyond boundaries

THE SPACETECH STARTUP IS CREDITED WITH INDIGENISING A CRUCIAL TECHNOLOGY FOR SATELLITES

- S SHANTHI

BELLATRIX AEROSPACE Co-Founder Rohan Ganapathy's life took a huge turn in his second year of college (he is an aeronautical engineer from Hindustan College in Coimbatore) in 2012 when he developed a unique concept for an electric propulsion system that could use water as fuel. That idea took him all the way to NASA, where he presented a paper.

"It was a surreal experience. I met my childhood heroes, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, and those conversations left a deep imprint on me. When I returned, the story of a 'local boy meeting Neil Armstrong' made it to the newspapers, and it caught the attention of Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam," Ganapathy, also the CEO and CTO of Bellatrix Aerospace, recalls. Dr Kalam not only appreciated the work but also gave him a recommendation letter, which helped secure his first grant from JSW Steel.

Till then, Ganapathy, now 33, wanted to become a professor in propulsion. "I wanted to do PhD from an Ivy League university, and spend my life teaching and researching. But I became what I like to call an accidental entrepreneur."