Beyond the launchpad: Hathor Rockets wants to become the Rolls-Royce of the space industry

The next big space race may not be about who builds the rocket, but who builds the engine that powers it. Chennai-based space-tech startup Hathor Rockets is betting on precisely that opportunity. As India’s private space companies race to build launch vehicles and put satellites into orbit, Hathor wants to become the propulsion backbone of the emerging global space industry.

Founded in June 2023 by entrepreneur V.K. Keerthivarman, an engineering entrepreneur from Erode, the company is pursuing an ambitious vision—to become the Rolls-Royce or GE Aerospace of rocket engines. Initially incubated at the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, and subsequently at IIT Madras, Hathor is developing ready-to-integrate propulsion systems that could help rocket manufacturers cut development timelines from nearly a decade to four or five years.

At the 31st CII Partnership Summit held in Visakhapatnam, Hathor Rockets signed an MoU with the Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board to acquire 150 acres in Tirupati Space City and establish a rocket engine design, manufacturing, and testing facility. The proposed investment is Rs 250 crore over three to five years, with 250 direct and up to 500 indirect jobs envisaged. Having raised Rs 14 crore through the IIT Madras Unicorn Frontier Fund, Keerthivarman is now looking to scale up manufacturing, strengthen testing capabilities, and serve international customers, including those in the US.

In this conversation with THE WEEK, Keerthivarman discusses India's space economy, the business of rocket propulsion, the importance of indigenous manufacturing, and why the future of the space industry will depend on companies that build its engines. Excerpts from the interview:

Hathor has signed an MoU with the Andhra Pradesh government. What does the investment entail?

We have signed an MoU to acquire 150 acres in Tirupati Space City to establish a rocket engine design, manufacturing, and testing facility. We are planning to invest Rs 250 crore over the next three to five years. The project is expected to generate 250 direct jobs and up to 500 indirect employment opportunities. The idea is to become part of the growing ecosystem that the Andhra Pradesh government is trying to create. 

Today, when we think of Manchester, we associate it with textiles, Detroit with automobiles, and Silicon Valley with computers. We believe Space City can evolve into a similar destination for the space industry. We want to be part of that vision.

Tell us about Hathor. When was the company founded, and how did the journey begin?

We incorporated the company in June 2023 and are now in our fourth year of operations. We were initially incubated at the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), Thiruvananthapuram, and are currently undergoing the process of incubation at IIT Madras. We have recently raised Rs 14 crore from the IIT Madras Unicorn Frontier Fund, an alumni-backed fund. The funding comprises Rs 12 crore and an additional Rs 2 crore, and we have just closed the round. We are among the first four startups to receive investment from this newly established fund. The fund had initially targeted a corpus of Rs 1,000 crore, but has closed its first tranche at Rs 50 crore, with four initial investments.

Q) India has opened up its space sector to private players. How do you assess the country's space economy, and what are the biggest challenges facing startups? Are policy interventions necessary?

I would divide the challenges into two categories: technological and policy-related. India currently accounts for around 2 per cent of the global space economy, and the government's vision is to increase this share to 10 per cent by 2040. There is enormous demand globally for launching payloads into orbit. However, if you examine the actual number of launches, a significant proportion is concentrated among just two companies—SpaceX and Rocket Lab—with the US and China accounting for a large share of launch activity.

This has created a supply-demand imbalance. Recently, Rocket Lab increased the price of its launch services from USD 55 million to USD 70 million, including for its Neutron rocket, which has not yet flown. Its launch slots are reportedly booked well into 2030. This illustrates how tightly the launch market is getting constrained.

Several companies are emerging globally to address this demand. In India, we have Agnikul and Skyroot working towards capturing a share of this market.

But developing a launch vehicle is a long process. On average, it takes nearly a decade for a company to move from inception to its first commercial launch. Skyroot, for instance, began in 2018 and achieved its first successful launch attempt in 2026. Agnikul is also working towards its commercial orbital launch. A substantial part of this development timeline goes into the propulsion system—the rocket engine.

At Hathor, we want to shorten this timeline by providing companies with ready-to-use propulsion systems. Instead of spending a decade developing their own engines, launch vehicle companies should be able to access engines from us and potentially reach the market in four to five years. That is the problem we are solving. We want to provide off-the-shelf propulsion systems to companies aspiring to enter the space market.

Look at other industries. Tesla manufactures electric vehicles, but battery packs are sourced from Panasonic. Tata manufactures automobiles, but also sources engines from other manufacturers. Airbus and Boeing build aircraft, while the engines come from companies such as Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney, CFM, and GE Aerospace.

We want Hathor to become the Rolls-Royce or GE Aerospace of rocket engines. Our ambition is not restricted to the Indian market. We are addressing a technological gap in the global space ecosystem. We have already received commercial contracts and commitments from customers in the US for the supply of rocket engines.

It is a significant shift. In the 1990s, the US stopped Russia from selling cryogenic rocket engine technology to India. Today, Indian companies are positioning themselves to export rocket engines to the US.

Where are your existing operations based? You mentioned that you had an earlier testing facility in Tamil Nadu.

We are based in Chennai, where our design office is located in Perungudi. We also had a small, temporary testing facility in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu. We essentially needed an open stretch of land to conduct our tests. We set up a temporary facility, carried out the tests over 10 days, and dismantled it.

We are now looking to establish a permanent facility with the funding we have secured. We will also soon have a presence inside the IIT Madras Research Park.

Companies such as Agnikul are expanding beyond satellite launches into satellite manufacturing, data services, propulsion, and space infrastructure. Where do you see the biggest commercial opportunities for Hathor?

As you rightly pointed out, companies are expanding their ambitions. Agnikul is looking at opportunities such as orbital data centres. Skyroot has also spoken about space-based solar power. But if you examine these developments closely, you will realise that all of them require enormous quantities of material to be transported into orbit. Establishing space-based infrastructure means moving huge amounts of mass into space, and that requires powerful and specialised launch vehicles. We are empowering those vehicles.

In fact, we see ourselves as the steel and cement of the space industry—the foundational layer that enables everyone else to build. A couple of months ago, we participated in the Adani Vande Bharat conclave, where Skyroot CEO Pawan Chandana was one of the judges. After hearing our pitch, he remarked that we would enable more companies aspiring to go to space. That is precisely our role.

Space transportation will evolve just like transportation on Earth. We have motorcycles, cars, trucks, and ships, each serving different purposes. Space will also require different types of vehicles and propulsion systems. A launch vehicle takes a payload from the Earth's surface into orbit. Once it reaches orbit, the spacecraft needs another propulsion system to manoeuvre. If we are looking at missions to the Moon and beyond, entirely different engines and vehicles will be required. There will be a growing demand for different varieties of propulsion systems. Hathor is building for that future.

How important is developing a domestic supply chain for India's space industry? Given that you provide a critical component even before companies such as Agnikul and Skyroot launch their vehicles, how crucial is indigenisation?

There is a common misconception that India does not have the necessary supply chain for the space industry. What people often fail to recognise is that India already manufactures critical aerospace components for established global players such as GE and Rolls-Royce.

We have the manufacturing capabilities. What we need to do is adapt and leverage these capabilities for space-grade applications. We are working towards 100 per cent indigenisation. The first engine we tested was completely indigenised. When we began developing our current engine, we had to source a few critical components from overseas markets, including Germany, Sweden, other European countries, and the US.

However, as we explored the domestic market more extensively, we discovered Indian manufacturers who were already producing similar components for other industries. We have now started tapping into that manufacturing ecosystem and bringing these capabilities into the space sector. Our objective is to indigenise every component that goes into the rocket engines we develop.

This is extremely important because it protects the industry from geopolitical disruptions. If we depend on overseas suppliers for critical components, any international conflict, export restriction, or diplomatic tension can affect our operations. A domestic supply chain gives us greater control, resilience, and technological independence. Ultimately, we want India to have complete control over the technologies and components that power its space ambitions.