According to team Manastu, India's state-run Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) has signed up to have this technology onboard an Indian strategic satellite, whereas a French company is also in talks to utilise this system in the final stage of their rocket, for orbit correction and manoeuvres

From building IIT Bombay's maiden student satellite 'Pratham', to working on developing a safer fuel and more efficient engine for satellites, the founders of Indian start-up 'Manastu' have come a long way.

On the occasion of their venture's fifth anniversary, Tushar and Ashtesh, the duo behind Manastu threw light onto their interesting offerings and the company’s future projects. Notably, the Indian start-up hopes to fly their newly-developed system to space by early 2023 and also have their technology commercialised.

After being placed in orbit by rockets, satellites have to rely on their on-board fuel and engines to make manoeuvres, in order to avoid colliding with space debris and to remain in their precise orbits, while functioning in the harsh environments of space. While this task has been handled for several decades by engines powered by fuels such as Mono methyl hydrazine, such fuels are toxic, highly volatile and cancer-causing, thus raising several concerns over their safety.

According to Ashtesh, who serves as the CTO at Manastu, they have developed a new propulsion technology for satellites and it will be powered by 'MS-289' which is a proprietary blend of Hydrogen peroxide and additives. In order to initiate the combustion of this novel fuel, the company will be using a chemical catalyst, that performs the similar function of a sparkplug in an automobile. About this technology, the company says "Fuel is as safe as common salt, hence less safety precautions and less infrastructure cost, Agile System due to ability to produce higher thrust compared to Electric Propulsion, 50 per cent Higher Performance due to higher combustion temperature and higher density of our fuel and engine design".

Three variants of this propulsion system have been built- to meet the requirements of satellites of different sizes (weighing over 100kg, small cube satellites etc. In addition to this, as part of their future endeavours they aim to develop satellite refuelling systems that can help extend the life of in orbit satellites.

Similar to an aerial-refuelling tanker that can extend the range of aircraft, this concept hopes to create a mechanism where a tanker(carrying satellite-grade) fuel can dock with a satellite and fill its tank, to extend its life. At the end of the satellite's operational life, similar tankers would also be used to de-orbit the satellite, thus preventing it from becoming space debris and a threat to other orbital assets.

By September this year, five-year-old company is optimistic about conducting a final test that involves putting the satellites through the rigours of space-like conditions (Thermovac Test), at a test facility. Once this test is complete, the team hopes to launch their satellite to space in early 2023 and prove its practical worthiness and capabilities, following which they can commercialise the technology.

According to team Manastu, India's state-run Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) has signed up to have this technology onboard an Indian strategic satellite, whereas a French company is also in talks to utilise this system in the final stage of their rocket, for orbit correction and manoeuvres.