Demux'd Thoughts

The Follower’s Dilemma: The Cost of Chasing China in Space

India need not, cannot, and should not validate competitor metrics through reactive pursuit.
May 25 • Adithya Kothandhapani

April 2026

The Space-PNT Report #2
Did the December 2025 H3 failure impact Japan's QZSS as bad as NVS-02 did to NavIC?
Apr 4 • Adithya Kothandhapani, Aditya Jhunjhunwala, and Krishi Tiwari

March 2026

Mars Gets a Network. The Moon Gets a Market.
Why infrastructure reality is colliding with ideology in U.S. space strategy
Mar 3 • Adithya Kothandhapani

February 2026

Disposal-as-a-Service: Reading Between the Lines of SDA's $52.5M Starfish Contract
Examining a strategic development in the context of 'The Orbital Servicing Wars' capability framework
Feb 23 • Adithya Kothandhapani

Designing Demand: How India Can Signal Defense Space Requirements
Without a dedicated force design authority, India generates satellite requirements service-by-service, procurement-by-procurement, crisis-by-crisis …
Feb 8 • Adithya Kothandhapani

November 2025

The Space-PNT Report #1
India's Navigation Constellation in November 2025: Performance Under Strain
Nov 21, 2025 • Adithya Kothandhapani, Krishi Tiwari, and Aditya Jhunjhunwala

August 2025

The Orbital Servicing Wars - Part II: Dissecting Vulnerabilities
How today’s orbital servicing architectures hold up under extended conflict, and what their failure modes reveal about doctrine, deterrence and national…
Aug 7, 2025 • Adithya Kothandhapani

July 2025

GeeSpace Constellation Rescue Complete: Can They Still Meet 2025 Targets?
Orbital data reveals what press releases don't: a rescue success and timing pressures for constellation completion.
Jul 12, 2025 • Adithya Kothandhapani

June 2025

The Orbital Servicing Wars - Part I: A Brief History till Date
Drawing out the distinct approaches taken by China, the US and Europe in pursuing on-orbit servicing over the past 15 years.
Jun 15, 2025 • Adithya Kothandhapani

May 2025

Architecting in the Unknown: Lessons from a Space Systems Drill
A hands-on mental drill in system-level problem-solving that's outside my usual beat, but a reminder that every professional needs new tools and mental…
May 30, 2025 • Adithya Kothandhapani

April 2025

Beyond Rideshare vs. Dedicated Launches: The Spectrum of Satellite Constellation Deployment Strategies
Looking past the launcher debates: How physics, business, regulation, and market realities shape successful constellation strategies, and what that…
Apr 20, 2025 • Adithya Kothandhapani

March 2025

Dual-Purpose VLEO: An Ongoing Chinese Constellation Rescue Bid & its Strategic Significance
What an automaker's VLEO excursion reveals about China's space capabilities and dual-use infrastructure
Mar 29, 2025 • Adithya Kothandhapani

VLEO: The Not-so-Virgin Orbital Regime
Analyzing stealth VLEO capabilities of US, China, Russia, Europe, India and Japan — in the context of commercial VLEO constellations — with custom tools…
Mar 15, 2025 • Adithya Kothandhapani

February 2025

Analyzing effects of ISRO's NVS-02 Navigation Satellite failure on NavIC users
A round-up of the impacts of NVS-02 with some context
Feb 7, 2025 • Adithya Kothandhapani