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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThey told him it was \u201cnot possible\u201d. He turned those words into a company name. Gadhadar Reddy\u2019s journey from dreaming of Mars to building carbon nanotube technology is a story of persistence and deep-tech ambition.That childhood ambition eventually led him to a much more fundamental question: what kind of materials would be needed to make future space missions lighter, stronger and more efficient?The answer he began exploring was carbon nanotubes\u2014microscopic structures made of carbon that have extraordinary mechanical, electrical and thermal properties. But when Reddy returned to India in 2011 to work on manufacturing them, the response, according to his own account, was blunt: it was \u201cnot possible\u201d, especially in India.So he named his company NoPo Nanotechnologies\u2014short for \u201cNot Possible\u201d.Fifteen years later, the Bengaluru company is scaling up production of single-walled carbon nanotubes, materials with potential applications in batteries, semiconductors, electronics, water treatment and advanced composites.<\/p>\n Reddy’s interest in space goes back to childhood. In an account published by Chevening, he said: \u201cEver since I was a child, my goal was to land up in Mars.\u201dBut getting humans to Mars requires far more than rockets.Spacecraft must carry structures and systems that are both extremely strong and as light as possible. That search led Reddy towards carbon nanotubes, particularly single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs).These are tiny cylindrical structures whose walls are just one carbon atom thick. Their unusual properties have made them a subject of scientific research for decades, but one of the biggest challenges has been manufacturing them consistently and at industrial scale.<\/p>\n In 2011, Reddy co-founded NoPo with Dr Robert Kelley Bradley.Bradley’s connection to the technology was unusual. According to NoPo, he was a PhD student at Rice University who worked under Nobel laureate Richard Smalley and helped build and refine early reactors based on the HiPCO\u2014High-Pressure Carbon Monoxide\u2014process for producing single-walled carbon nanotubes.NoPo says the technology was subsequently re-engineered and revived in Bengaluru, with the company focusing on making the process stable, repeatable and suitable for industrial-scale production.<\/p>\nA Mars dream led to a materials problem<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
The Nobel connection behind NoPo’s technology<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
What exactly is NoPo trying to make?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n