Today I’m joined by Jay Panchal, founder and CEO of Aule Space, in Bengaluru. Jay started the company in 2024 with his fellow founders Nithyaa Giri, who’s Aule’s CTO, and Hrishit Tambi, its COO.
He talks about their efforts so far to develop “jetpacks” – sophisticated Mission Extension Vehicles (MEVs) designed for the task of rendezvous, proximity operations, and docking (RPOD).
The trio of entrepreneurs has just raised $2 million in pre-seed funding led by pi Ventures, a well-known deep tech VC firm in Bengaluru.
Chapters
(00:50) Introduction to Aule Space, jetpack technology and RPOD.
(03:10) Jay’s journey: From BITS Pilani to Pixxel to Aule.
(08:17) Defining the problem: Debris and the robotic workforce. The hardest part of space operations.
(12:01) Ground testing and simulating microgravity, refining docking algorithms and mechanisms before launch.
(16:54) Developing autonomous navigation (GNC) systems.
(23:05) The global landscape, non-cooperative docking and Aule’s innovations.
(28:17) Scaling the Indian space ecosystem and supply chain.
(30:59) Roadmap: From tech demonstrators to a 20-jetpack fleet to robots tailored for manufacturing and assembly in space.
Aule is developing an innovative non-cooperative docking mechanism, giving its jetpacks the ability to latch onto satellites and debris not originally designed for docking. Its design combines a satellite-agnostic docking mechanism with AI-driven guidance, navigation and control algorithms, aiming to field one of the world’s lightest and most cost-efficient RPOD satellite fleets.
The company is targeting use-cases from life extension of high-value geostationary communications satellites and debris removal to defence applications such as close-in inspection for space-domain awareness. With the long-term vision of establishing a robotic workforce in space, Jay hopes that over the next five years, Aule will operate a fleet of jetpacks. Their technology demonstrator could be ready as early as next year.
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