Hyderabadi to launch ‘hail ride’ for satellites in space

Hyderabad’s Sankarsh Chanda, founder of Stardour Aerospace, is building Lucas — India’s first orbital transfer vehicle. Funded through his stock market success, the startup recently tested a hydrogen-oxygen propulsion engine, with a maiden space mission planned for 2027

Hyderabad: This 26-year-old Hyderabadi has set out to redefine in-space transportation with what could be described as ‘the hail ride for satellites’ out in space.

Sankarsh Chanda’s Stardour Aerospace, a stealth-mode Indian space-tech startup, recently completed the test fire of India’s first hydrogen and oxygen propulsion engine, developed in-house by Stardour, and tested at Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore.

---

Sankarsh, who started investing in the capital markets at the age of 14, published his first book, Financial Nirvana, at the age of 16, and at the age of 18, dropped out of his bachelor’s degree to start Savart, one of India’s largest investment advisors with clients from 33 countries.

However, the youngster was always driven by his fundamental passion – space. “Space demands big money, which is being generated from my second passion – investment. I make money with stocks and I spend it in space with Stardour,” he says.

Stardour is now engaged in developing Lucas, a next-generation Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV) designed to conduct scientific and commercial expeditions across Low Earth Orbit (LEO), Geostationary Orbit (GEO), the Moon, Mars, and beyond. It is scheduled for maiden launch in Q3 2027.

Sankarsh describes Lucas as a spacecraft that will push satellites from one orbit to another. “We are like a taxi parked out there in the space. Launch vehicles do put satellites in orbit, but often it cannot be the precise orbit, and in such instances, we will do the manoeuvre – pick up the satellite from its orbit and drop in the one it should be,” he explains.

Also, where needed, Lucas will refuel a satellite and extend its life span, deorbit, that is, on completion of a satellite’s mission, pick it up, bring it back and put it in the ocean. “This latter aspect will help avoid space junk, which otherwise is going to be a major issue in the coming times,” he quips.

Lucas is a costly affair, admits Sankarsh, pointing out that the first launch, expected in 2027, is expected to cost around Rs 80 crore. “Still, this is one of the most frugal missions and subsequent efforts will not cost that much,” he adds.

With former ISRO Scientist, B Rama Rao, as Director, Team Stardour has been working to keep the project on course and according to schedule. “He is a visionary and comes with 33 years of experience at ISRO and is an expert in handling space R&D operations,” adds Sankarsh Chanda.