The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has announced plans to actively involve companies specialising in on-orbit servicing and refuelling (OOSR) technologies in its upcoming missions, marking a significant step in India’s push towards space sustainability and extended satellite utility.

Speaking at the inauguration of OrbitAID Aerospace’s new R&D facility in Bangalore, ISRO Chairman Dr. V. Narayanan stressed the importance of advanced capabilities like docking, refuelling, and life-extension services for satellites to enhance the longevity and output of current and future space assets.

OrbitAID Aerospace, the country’s first space-tech startup focused on OOSR, has established a 6,500 sq. ft R&D centre in Bengaluru with an investment exceeding $2 million. This facility is billed as India’s largest commercial and one of the world’s biggest infrastructural hubs for Rendezvous, Proximity Operations, and Docking (RPOD), which form the backbone of satellite servicing and in-orbit refuelling systems.

The centre is equipped with a sophisticated command-and-control room for real-time RPOD simulations, a Class 10,000 clean room for satellite integration, and advanced fuel-transfer setups designed for servicing spacecraft in orbit.

Dr Narayanan underscored that ISRO’s commitment to opening its ecosystem to private players represents a transformative phase in the Indian space sector.

This partnership-driven model, especially in high-impact domains such as OOSR, will allow India to address growing global demands for satellite servicing missions as costs of building and deploying new satellites escalate.

He highlighted that technologies like standardised docking interfaces and refuelling mechanisms will be critical to maximise operational lifetimes and reduce space debris, tying the efforts directly to future-proofing orbital sustainability.

OrbitAID’s achievement comes in the wake of India’s milestone accomplishment with SPADeX (Space Docking Experiment), which successfully demonstrated satellite docking capability in January, making India only the fourth nation in the world to achieve such technology after the US, Russia, and China.

The new R&D centre builds upon SPADeX’s technological foundation and positions India as a future hub for commercial OOSR services.

By combining ISRO’s expertise with OrbitAID’s infrastructure, India is strategically moving to capture a share of the fast-growing on-orbit servicing market, widely viewed as essential to the next generation of space operations, satellite sustainability strategies, and long-duration deep-space missions.

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