From Mumbai to Mars: A Startup’s Journey to the Future

For decades, humanity’s approach to space infrastructure has been fundamentally disposable. Multi-million-dollar satellites are launched, operated, and then entirely abandoned the moment they run out of fuel or suffer a minor component failure.

This practice has triggered a dual crisis: immense economic waste and an escalating space debris problem. Millions of fragments of space junk are currently orbiting Earth at velocities exceeding 27,000 km/h. At these speeds, even minute debris can strike an active satellite with the force of an explosion. This crowding pushes us dangerously close to the Kessler Syndrome - a catastrophic chain reaction of collisions that could render critical orbits entirely unusable for generations.

This is no longer just a problem for astrophysicists; it directly threatens the modern global economy. Mega-Constellation Operators such as Starlink deploy thousands of satellites for global internet grids. They risk losing billions in hardware from a single stray debris strike. Even industries relying on uninterrupted data pipelines for GPS, climate tracking, maritime navigation, and national security face immediate operational vulnerabilities if orbital assets go dark. Moreover, as collision risks multiply, space insurance premiums are soaring, creating a financial barrier that threatens to choke off venture capital and future space investments.

We have reached a critical inflection point where treating space as a disposable resource is no longer viable. Thanks to lower launch costs, more satellites have been deployed in the last five years than in the previous fifty. The sheer traffic volume means the probability of catastrophic collisions is rising exponentially. Regulatory bodies are also cracking down on space junk, transitioning space sustainability from a moral choice to a legal mandate. Operators face strict penalties if they cannot safely remove or manage their dead hardware.

With the cost of reaching space plummeting, the primary economic bottleneck is no longer launching technology, but sustaining it. Profitability in the modern space economy relies on Asset Lifecycle Management - refueling, repairing, and upgrading existing hardware rather than paying to constantly replace it.

What is InspeCity?

Professor Arindrajit Chowdhury’s InspeCity (derived from ‘in-space city’) aims to confront these exact challenges. Established in 2022 by Professor Chowdhury and Tausif Shaikh, an IIT Bombay Alumnus, it is a space-tech startup aimed at developing groundbreaking tools for supporting satellite systems. To understand its core philosophy, we need to take a bird’s-eye view of the larger situation at hand.

The number of active satellites increased from 1,400 in 2015 to more than an enormous 11,000 in 2025. An additional 18,000 or more are projected to be launched by 2030. According to ESA's Annual Space Environment Report 2025, about 40,000 objects are now tracked by space surveillance networks, of which about 11,000 are active payloads. All of these figures point to one major fact; the number of space objects is increasing at a significant rate. Making the entire process sustainable will soon become a necessity rather than an ideal.

Formally, the technology being developed is called In-Space Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing (ISAM). Essentially, it is ‘space-mechanics’ capable of operating on satellites while they are still in orbit. ISAM, if fully developed, enables deep space exploration by reducing launch constraints and improving cost efficiency. While their ultimate end-term goal is to create cities in space and to advance human capabilities beyond the Earth, InspeCity’s primary mission is much closer to home – building a sustainable in-space economy.

InspeCity’s significance extends way beyond its technological impact. InspeCity represents a credible Indian entrant into a market projected to be worth over $14 billion by 2030 built on academic research, validated through India's iDEX defence innovation program and backed by seasoned experts of the field. Their impact is also geopolitical, expanding through major worldwide partnerships. InspeCity has signed an MoU with Japan-based Orbital Lasers to explore laser-based space debris removal, and is building international partnerships in Taiwan and Japan to expand its footprint in the Indo-Pacific region. While the US and Europe are primary markets, the startup also sees major potential in Southeast Asia and West Asia.

Going forward; The Interim Plan

As laid down by InspeCity, to achieve their vision there is a rough 4-phase plan. Phase 1 lays the groundwork and is focused on providing core in-space services of satellite life extension and eco-friendly propulsion. This phase is majorly concerned with the development of GITA, which is currently prototype ready and slated for commercialisation, along with RAMA, CHAKSU and VEDA. These systems, together, aim to form the foundation for InspeCity’s technological services.
Phase 2 and Phase 3 aim to scale their vision and ideology. These phases are oriented around enhancing orbital presence and expanding deep-space services by developing long-term service modules. They aim for commercialization of GITA by at most 2028 and development of Ayodhya by 2032, a milestone that aims to mark a fully realized in-space presence.

The final phase, currently listed on InspeCity's website simply as their 'future plan', speaks to a longer and more ambitious horizon. It is centered on orbit recycling and debris management and once in effect, aims to complete InspeCity’s thesis on the future of space.

Funding and Current Progress
InspeCity has raised $13.6M total across 3 funding rounds, with the most recent $5.6M seed round closing in March 2026. The team has expanded to 23 people from diverse backgrounds across India and beyond, with new advisory additions including Prof. Milind Atrey, Dr. M Nageswara Rao, Prof. Sukumar Srikant, and Prof. Neeraj Kumbhakarna. On the international front, InspeCity and Orbital Lasers jointly published a white paper on integrated operations of space laser and robotics technologies in July 2025, building on their December 2024 MoU.

Analysis

However, despite such significant progress, InspeCity finds itself in a unique position in the market. The problem of cleaning of orbital debris is a classic case of ‘tragedy of commons’ where everyone is affected but no one is legally obligated to clean it up. Recently there has been a significant push towards sustainability in terms of satellite servicing and on the top of the ladder stands Northrop Grumman. It is a well-capitalised company that has already serviced satellites commercially. There is also Astroscale with well- funded missions in build and Starfish Space that has signed with NASA and Intelsat.

InspeCity is several rungs below on this ladder in terms of how near it is to actually running a mission, but it is the only Indian player in a strategically crucial space. What makes it stand out is that its distribution and build costs will likely be lower than its global competitors, and defence self-reliance and Indo-Pacific strategic context are great arguments for why India needs to enter into this market early.

InspeCity’s original mission, around 2022, was to build liveable cities in space. However, that soon changed to a more grounded, satellite servicing vision reflecting the technical prowess of the founders and how they are not a typical commercial-first company. It has moved from pure R&D to iDEX hardware contracts to international MoUs and published a joint technical white paper, a sign of maturing research output.

Sitting at the cusp of breaking into the ISAM market, InspeCity represents potential change, not a proven one. And while they have not completed any mission, their iDEX validation, the quality of investors, and the international partnerships suggest this is not just hype either. At the macro level, InspeCity is one of a handful of companies actively reshaping what India's technological identity means. From a country that writes code for the world to one that builds machines that operate in it. And at the policy level, it is helping force a conversation about ISAM in Indian institutions that have not yet engaged with it as seriously as their Western counterparts have.


Looking at the bigger picture, India is continually walking the path towards establishing startups that compete in frontier hardware, not just software. India’s private space sector barely existed before 2020. With the Indian Space Policy 2023, opening the door for private players like InspeCity, India’s space economy that was valued at $8.4 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow fivefold to reach $44 billion by 2033. IITs are playing a significant role in this gradual shift from software to deep tech hardware. At IIT Madras campus alone, more than 100 deep-tech startups were launched in the year ending March 2025, while students and researchers filed patents at a pace of more than one patent a day. Over half of India's deep tech ventures originate from academic environments, making these institutional linkages essential for sustained progress.