Budgam, Oct 21: In a journey that began with a childhood fascination with the night sky in Budgam district, Sadiq Ali Mir has emerged as a young aerospace engineer and entrepreneur with ambitions that extend from autonomous aircraft to space exploration.
Mir has been named to the inaugural National Space Society (NSS) 30 Under 30 Class of 2026, announced on October 12, recognising 30 emerging professionals contributing to the future of space exploration, development and settlement.
For Mir, who hails from Labertal village in Budgam district, the recognition represents a significant milestone in a journey shaped by curiosity, technical innovation and a determination to contribute to the global aerospace sector.
His interest in space began when he was in Class 7. One night, he noticed a bright object moving across the sky and initially mistook it for a comet. He later discovered that it was the International Space Station (ISS). That encounter proved decisive, transforming a moment of wonder into a long-term ambition to pursue a career in aerospace and space technology.
Mir completed his schooling at Al Asma Educational Institute and Government Higher Secondary School in Budgam. In 2021, he moved to Bengaluru to pursue a degree in Aerospace Engineering at RV College of Engineering (RVCE), graduating in 2025.
During his time at RVCE, Mir combined academic learning with hands-on engineering and research. He founded Team AeroAstro, a 40-member student team focused on electric aircraft and space technology, and served as its Project Manager and Design Engineer. The team worked on multi-rotor and tilt-wing electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, taking projects from conceptual design towards integration.
His work included developing computer-aided design (CAD) models and conducting finite element analyses for a single-passenger eVTOL aircraft. He also led a research project on space debris mitigation with technical support from NASA. These efforts contributed to a patent-pending eVTOL configuration and research papers covering aerodynamics, solar sails and reusable launch vehicle guidance, including a paper prepared for the Global Space Exploration Conference 2025.
Another significant milestone came in 2024, when Mir joined the NASA Milo Space Science Institute workforce development programme as Lead Systems Engineer for an international lunar rover team. According to the profile, he received special permission to participate as an Indian student in a programme described as subject to International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) restrictions and generally intended for US and New Zealand citizens.
As part of the programme, Mir led an international team working on lunar mission design aligned with NASA’s NPR 7120.5 systems engineering and programme management standard. His responsibilities included developing system interfaces and risk-management frameworks. He also earned programme badges in systems engineering, heat transfer and risk management.
The experience strengthened his understanding of the collaborative nature of space missions, where engineers from different disciplines and countries must work together to address complex technical challenges.
Mir is now pursuing another ambitious goal as an Astronaut Candidate at Titans Space Industries, where he is preparing for the company’s planned 2029 mission. He is currently in the first phase of astronautics training, which includes space systems, while also conducting research at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee to further his work in the space sector.
Alongside his aerospace and space-related pursuits, Mir has also stepped into entrepreneurship. During his final year at RVCE, he founded Zephyra Dynamics, where he serves as Founder and Chief Executive Officer. The company aims to advance urban air mobility in India through the development of fully autonomous aircraft and supporting air traffic management technologies.
Its first aircraft, the Kestrel X2, is a single-seat, fully autonomous eVTOL designed for the emerging urban air mobility sector. The aircraft is currently in the pre-certification process. The company is also developing LAMINAR, a cloud-based urban air traffic management system that has completed software-in-the-loop (SITL) testing and is progressing through hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) testing.
Under Mir’s leadership, Zephyra Dynamics has established technical collaborations with Dassault Systèmes, NVIDIA and several research institutions. His approach centres on treating urban air mobility not simply as an aircraft-development challenge, but as a broader systems-engineering problem involving autonomy, safety, reliability and efficient operations.
Mir says the principles he has drawn from aerospace and space engineering—reliability, reusability and economy—continue to shape the company’s development philosophy.
The NSS 30 Under 30 recognition brings together the different strands of his journey: engineering research, international collaboration, astronaut training and entrepreneurship. The National Space Society, a long-established global space advocacy organisation, has instituted the programme to highlight young professionals whose work contributes to humanity’s future in space. The honourees become part of the NSS Young Professionals community and are scheduled to be featured in the organisation’s _ad Astra_ magazine in 2027.
For Mir, the honour carries significance beyond an individual achievement. It reflects the possibility of young people from regions such as Kashmir contributing to advanced research, aerospace innovation and international space initiatives.
From a schoolboy in Budgam who once looked up at the International Space Station with curiosity to an aerospace engineer working on autonomous flight systems and preparing for a potential space mission, Mir’s journey illustrates how an early fascination can evolve into a sustained pursuit of scientific and technological ambition.
His inclusion in the inaugural NSS 30 Under 30 Class of 2026 marks an important chapter in that journey, as he continues to work towards his vision of contributing to India’s emerging aerospace ecosystem and the wider future of space exploration.
