The Rise of Navneet Singh’s Kepler Aerospace: Building India’s New Space Backbone
Navneet Singh, founder and CEO of Kepler Aerospace, is quietly building India’s new space backbone through small satellites and space-grade components. Founded in the mid-2010s, Kepler focuses on the less visible aspects of modern space missions, such as reliable small satellites, precision parts, and custom electronics. Under Singh’s leadership, Kepler has positioned itself as a critical partner in India’s strategic space ecosystem, focusing on in-house development and investing heavily in materials R&D. The company is working on building an integrated ecosystem, including satellites, ground control infrastructure, and AI-powered analytics platforms, with clients including defense agencies, universities, and startups. Kepler’s quiet evolution has earned it a powerful reputation, enabling India’s space economy to scale, secure, and self-rely.
- Aerospace Engineering
- AI-powered analytics
- Civilian innovation
- Customizable systems
- Defense-grade engineering
- DRDO
- Ground station systems
- Indigenous satellite platforms
- ISRO
- Kepler Aerospace
- Low Earth Orbit (LEO)
- Materials R&D
- Materials science
- Modular technology
- National security
- Navneet Singh
- Private space sector
- Proprietary satellite platform
- Radiation-hardened electronics
- Research institutions
- Satellite Components
- Satellite fleet services
- Satellite technology
- Scalable solutions
- Small Satellites
- Space-grade components
- Strategic space ecosystem
- Systems design
- Technical independence
TeamIndus & Rahul Narayan’s Lunar Dreams
TeamIndus, founded by Rahul Narayan and a team of engineers, emerged as one of India’s earliest private aerospace ventures with its sights set on the Moon. The team, which included ex-ISRO scientists and young engineers, built a lunar lander from scratch in a country with no private spaceflight ecosystem. The vehicle, later dubbed HHK1, was designed to ride aboard ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). Despite the Google Lunar XPRIZE’s cancellation in 2018, TeamIndus continued lunar ambitions post-contest, repositioning itself as a commercial lunar services company. The company helped create a precedent for Indian startups to build space-grade hardware, navigate policy hurdles, and dream at planetary scales.
- $20 million prize
- Bengaluru
- Commercial lunar services
- Funding
- Google Lunar XPRIZE
- HHK1 (Hum Honge Kamyaab One)
- High-definition images
- Indian space entrepreneurs
- ISRO Collaboration
- Lunar dreams
- Lunar lander
- Lunar technology
- Milestones
- Mission design
- Modular lander platforms
- Nandan Nilekani
- Payload integration
- Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)
- Policy hurdles
- Private aerospace venture
- Private space technology
- Rahul Narayan
- Ratan Tata
- Sachin Bansal
- Scientific instruments
- Space Exploration
- Space-grade hardware
- spacecraft
- TeamIndus
Astrogate Labs: Lighting the Path for Space-to-Ground Laser Coms
Astrogate Labs, founded in 2017, is developing laser-based optical communication systems to replace outdated radio frequency methods in satellite communication. Their flagship product, Astro-Link, is a compact laser terminal capable of delivering 1 Gbps downlink speeds for CubeSats and nanosatellites. The company is also developing a network of optical ground stations and space relay systems.
- Aditya Kedlaya
- Astro-Link
- Astrogate Labs
- Bengaluru
- Compact laser terminal
- CubeSats
- Data transfer
- Deep space missions
- Deep-tech startup
- Funding Rounds
- Global laser communication infrastructure
- High-speed communication
- High-speed space data
- Inter-satellite communication
- Key Milestones
- Laser communication
- Nanosatellites
- Nitish Singh
- Optical communication systems
- Optical ground stations
- Radio frequency methods
- Seed round
- Small satellite industry
- Space relay systems
- Space-tech ecosystem
- Space-to-ground communication
- Spacetech innovation
- Turnkey solution