Bengaluru company builds tech to keep ageing spacecraft alive

BENGALURU: What if satellites could simply plug into a power bank instead of drifting away when they run out of fuel? That’s the idea driving a Bengaluru startup building “jetpack” satellites designed to latch onto ageing spacecraft, take over their propulsion duties and keep billion-dollar assets working years longer.After recently validating a key part of its technology at an Isro facility used for India’s SpaDeX docking mission, Aule Space is now preparing for what could become one of the world’s most ambitious private satellite docking demonstrations.For satellite operators, running out of fuel doesn’t necessarily mean spacecraft have reached the end of life. In many cases, expensive communication satellites remain fully functional, but can no longer maintain their assigned orbital positions because they have exhausted the propellant needed for station-keeping. Once that happens, operators are forced to retire assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars.Aule has found another way.