Journal

Curated reading

Recent dispatches

Longform entries on the problems that shape every proposed mission.

First principles

Orbital mechanics, plainly stated

A walk through the physics that constrains where a satellite can go, how long it can stay there, and why every orbit is a trade.

Architecture

AI mission architectures

How onboard intelligence might divide work between the spacecraft and the ground, and where that boundary should sit for a planned system.

History

India's aerospace path

Reflections on earlier Indian space milestones and how the current shift toward private aerospace work changes the context ahead.

Long read

The economics of orbital resilience

A resilient orbital system is not only a matter of hardware. It depends on the cost of each satellite, the reliability of launch access, and the discipline to design for failure before it arrives. Every constellation proposal is ultimately a bet on how these pressures balance over years rather than quarters.

The technical foundations follow from that economic frame: redundancy in power and communications, thermal margins that tolerate eclipse cycles, and mission plans that degrade gracefully. These are proposed design commitments, and this essay treats them as questions to answer carefully rather than achievements already in hand.