Agnikul Cosmos successfully test launches the Agnibaan rocket powered by the world’s first single-piece 3D printed semi-cryogenic engine from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, in Sriharikota.
| Photo Credit: ANI

After the successful test-flight of Agnibaan SOrTeD, Chennai-based space start-up Agnikul Cosmos is hoping to start launching satellites early next year.

In an interview with PTI, Agnikul co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Srinath Ravichandran said the 3D-printed semi-cryogenic engines and the rocket will offer quick turnaround for customers who will be able to have customised launch vehicles for their satellites.

“Nine to 12 months I would say. Probably by the end of this financial year or the early part of the next financial year is what we are targeting,” Mr. Ravichandran said when asked about the commercial orbital launch of the Agnibaan rocket.

The first test flight of Agnibaan SOrTeD (suborbital technology demonstrator) on May 30, which lasted for 66 seconds, came after four unsuccessful attempts.

“It was a big sense of relief. I think we got a lot of learning in differentiating between building a vehicle and launching a vehicle,” said Mr. Ravichandran, whose idea to use 3D printing technology to build engines and rockets led to Agnikul Cosmos, a space sector start-up incubated at the IIT Madras Research Park in 2017.

The other co-founders were Moin SPM, an operations specialist and Satyanarayanan Chakravarthy, a professor at IIT Madras and Head of the National Centre for Combustion Research and Development.

Women engineers Saraniya Periaswamy, the Vehicle Director for Agnibaan SOrTeD and Umamaheswari. K, the Project Director of the first Mission played a key role in the test flight.

Agnibaan SOrTeD was a vertical ascent flight unlike sounding rockets that are launched using guiding rails placed at a particular angle.

“Seven seconds after lift-off we checked the health of the vehicle and that is when the auto-pilot kicked in. Little bit into the flight, it started moving over the ocean and performed the pitch-over manoeuvre and then continued on its planned trajectory,” Ravichandran said, sharing details of Agnibaan SOrTeD’s maiden flight.

“Once it reached about 60 seconds or so, we entered the wind biasing manoeuvre, where we solve the wind speed and actually fly into the wind so there is not much wind load on the vehicle,” he said.

After the wind-biasing manoeuvre, the rocket continued to fly till burnout and dropped back into the ocean.

“There was continuous radar tracking of the vehicle. All the devices and instruments enabling that also worked really well,” Mr. Ravichandran said.

The next steps for Agnikul is to master the technology of firing multiple engines together and carry out tests for stage separation.

“We will have to figure out two things. Our orbital rocket has multiple engines fired together. So, that will have to be tested out on the ground. And the stage separation. SOrTeD was a single stage vehicle. The orbital vehicle will have two stages. So stage separation has to be tested,” Mr. Ravichandran said.

“We are already in the middle of building rigs at our facility. We will take six-seven months to get that and from there we will be able to target the orbital mission in the next three months,” he said.

According to Mr. Ravichandran, the demand for small satellites was high with as many as 30-35 tonnes of payloads put in low earth orbits every year.

He said small satellites have a low life-span and the same need to be replenished for continued earth-imaging or communications applications.

The Agnibaan launch vehicle is designed to be compatible with the mobile launchpad called Dhanush and can be configured to accommodate payloads ranging from 30 kg to 300 kg, ensuring versatility across a wide range of mission requirements.

Agnikul Cosmos successfully test launches the Agnibaan rocket powered by the world’s first single-piece 3D printed semi-cryogenic engine from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, in Sriharikota.
| Photo Credit: ANI

After the successful test-flight of Agnibaan SOrTeD, Chennai-based space start-up Agnikul Cosmos is hoping to start launching satellites early next year.

In an interview with PTI, Agnikul co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Srinath Ravichandran said the 3D-printed semi-cryogenic engines and the rocket will offer quick turnaround for customers who will be able to have customised launch vehicles for their satellites.

“Nine to 12 months I would say. Probably by the end of this financial year or the early part of the next financial year is what we are targeting,” Mr. Ravichandran said when asked about the commercial orbital launch of the Agnibaan rocket.

The first test flight of Agnibaan SOrTeD (suborbital technology demonstrator) on May 30, which lasted for 66 seconds, came after four unsuccessful attempts.

“It was a big sense of relief. I think we got a lot of learning in differentiating between building a vehicle and launching a vehicle,” said Mr. Ravichandran, whose idea to use 3D printing technology to build engines and rockets led to Agnikul Cosmos, a space sector start-up incubated at the IIT Madras Research Park in 2017.

The other co-founders were Moin SPM, an operations specialist and Satyanarayanan Chakravarthy, a professor at IIT Madras and Head of the National Centre for Combustion Research and Development.

Women engineers Saraniya Periaswamy, the Vehicle Director for Agnibaan SOrTeD and Umamaheswari. K, the Project Director of the first Mission played a key role in the test flight.

Agnibaan SOrTeD was a vertical ascent flight unlike sounding rockets that are launched using guiding rails placed at a particular angle.

“Seven seconds after lift-off we checked the health of the vehicle and that is when the auto-pilot kicked in. Little bit into the flight, it started moving over the ocean and performed the pitch-over manoeuvre and then continued on its planned trajectory,” Ravichandran said, sharing details of Agnibaan SOrTeD’s maiden flight.

“Once it reached about 60 seconds or so, we entered the wind biasing manoeuvre, where we solve the wind speed and actually fly into the wind so there is not much wind load on the vehicle,” he said.

After the wind-biasing manoeuvre, the rocket continued to fly till burnout and dropped back into the ocean.

“There was continuous radar tracking of the vehicle. All the devices and instruments enabling that also worked really well,” Mr. Ravichandran said.

The next steps for Agnikul is to master the technology of firing multiple engines together and carry out tests for stage separation.

“We will have to figure out two things. Our orbital rocket has multiple engines fired together. So, that will have to be tested out on the ground. And the stage separation. SOrTeD was a single stage vehicle. The orbital vehicle will have two stages. So stage separation has to be tested,” Mr. Ravichandran said.

“We are already in the middle of building rigs at our facility. We will take six-seven months to get that and from there we will be able to target the orbital mission in the next three months,” he said.

According to Mr. Ravichandran, the demand for small satellites was high with as many as 30-35 tonnes of payloads put in low earth orbits every year.

He said small satellites have a low life-span and the same need to be replenished for continued earth-imaging or communications applications.

The Agnibaan launch vehicle is designed to be compatible with the mobile launchpad called Dhanush and can be configured to accommodate payloads ranging from 30 kg to 300 kg, ensuring versatility across a wide range of mission requirements.

Agnikul Cosmos, India’s private space start-up, today test-fired its rocket named Agnibaan SOrTeD (Suborbital Tech Demonstrator), which is powered by an engine that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is still trying to master.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has announced that the Chennai based start-up successfully launched the rocket at 7.15 am. ISRO chairman Mr S Somanath confirmed to NDTV that the launch was “successful”.

Congratulations @AgnikulCosmos for the successful launch of the Agnibaan SoRTed-01 mission from their launch pad.

A major milestone, as the first-ever controlled flight of a semi-cryogenic liquid engine realized through additive manufacturing.@INSPACeIND

— ISRO (@isro) May 30, 2024

“Congratulations @AgnikulCosmos for the successful launch of the Agnibaan SoRTed-01 mission from their launch pad. A major milestone, as the first-ever controlled flight of a semi-cryogenic liquid engine realized through additive manufacturing,” ISRO posted on X.

Satya R Chakravarty, a professor from IIT Madras and a mentor for Agnikul, too, said the launch from Sriharikota was successful.

This was the fifth attempt to launch the rocket after four launch plans were aborted due to technical glitches. Rocketry is not for the faint-hearted, and the young team of engineers from the Chennai-based start-up has showed remarkable patience and bounced back every time a glitch foiled their plans.

Incubated at IIT-Madras, this was the first test flight for the start-up, founded in 2017 by two young aerospace engineers with a dream to create “a place where people learn to use fire”.

The rocket, which weighs 575 kg and is 6.2-metre long, lifted off from Sriharikota plunging into the Bay of Bengal.

The Agnibaan SOrTeD is powered by a semi-cryogenic engine that uses commercially available aviation turbine fuel, essentially kerosene and medical grade liquid oxygen, said Moin SPM, co-founder of Agnikul Cosmos Private Limited.

ISRO has never flown a semi-cryogenic engine. It is developing a 2000 kN thrust semi-cryogenic engine and the first ignition trial was conducted successfully on May 2. So, the Chennai-based start-up has achieved what no other Indian private firm did.

Agnikul has demonstrated the first semi-cryogenic and 3D printed engine by the Indian private sector, says Dr Pawan Goenka, a mechanical engineer and chairperson of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) under the Centre’s Department of Space. “This bold innovation could be a significant differentiator when commercial launches start by India’s start-ups.”

Srinath Ravichandran, a co-founder of the space start-up, said, “This launch is significant since it is India’s first launch from a private launchpad and the rocket has the world’s first single piece 3D printed engine designed and built indigenously.”

ISRO tested its first-ever 3D printed engine in ground tests on May 9.

Ahead of the launch, the start-up said in a statement, “Agnibaan SOrTeD (Suborbital Tech Demonstrator) is a single-stage launch vehicle driven by Agnikul’s patented Agnilet engine – an entirely 3D-printed, single-piece, 6 kN semi-cryogenic engine. Agnibaan SOrTeD will lift off vertically and follow a predetermined trajectory. The trajectory, manoeuvres and various flight events that will occur during the mission have been configured to validate tech integral to the success of our upcoming orbital flights. We are excited to be attempting this flight from our own launch pad [named Dhanush] at Sriharikota.”

Explaining how Agnibaan’s special 3D printed engine can prove to be a game-changer, Mr Moin told NDTV that it is a single-piece equipment and the quality testing time for such engines is highly reduced by using 3D printing technology.

The engine is powered by commercially available aviation turbine fuel and liquid oxygen. This makes for a cheap and easily available non-corrosive fuel which can be sourced easily, he said, adding that this also makes it easy to launch rockets from multiple locations with minimum facilities.

In another first, Agnikul has got the go-ahead to build a special launchpad near the sea on the Sriharikota island with its own dedicated control room. This is part of ISRO opening up its facilities for the ease of doing business for Indian space companies.

“This will be the first controlled flight of a rocket by a private company, and all precautions are being taken to make sure nothing goes amiss. If things go awry, then the self-destruct mechanism provided by ISRO can be activated by the Range Safety Officer,” Mr Moin said ahead of the launch.

Agnikul follows up on the first launch by an Indian space company, Skyroot Aerospace Private Limited, which in 2022 flew a solid fuelled sounding rocket from Sriharikota. Once Agnibaan rockets become operational, Agnikul hopes to undertake launch on demand and launch 30 to 300 kg satellites into space.

“We hope to build dedicated, fully customisable and transportable launch vehicles for small satellites to Low Earth Orbits (LEO). The launch vehicle Agnibaan is powered by a single-piece 3D-printed engine that can be made in 72 hours without any human intervention. It is compatible with the mobile launch pad called ‘Dhanush’ which makes the launch location agnostic and, most importantly, it could be configured to fly with 4/5/6/7 [engines] which makes the launch cost the same across the spectrum of mass – 30 kg – 300 kg,” the company has said.

Agnikul has already attracted an investment of 40 million dollars and has a team of 250 members. “The average age of employees at Agnikul is 23 years and all are fired up to innovate,” says Mr Moin, underscoring that India can become a hub for small satellite launches as more and more global companies are opting for constellations of satellites placed in low earth orbits.

Pawan Chandana and Bharath Daka, founders of Skyroot Aerospace, an Indian Space-Tech startup, pose for a photograph with a mockup of Vikram-S rocket, India’s first private rocket developed by the Skyroot, in Hyderabad, India, October 24, 2022.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Indian space startup Agnikul Cosmos said on Tuesday it had raised 2 billion rupees ($26.7 million) in additional funds ahead of its first rocket launch, as private space firms benefit from the successful landing of an Indian spacecraft on the moon.

Chennai-based Agnikul, whose name is derived from the Hindi and Sanskrit word for fire, plans to launch a sub-orbital rocket from its own launch pad within the next two months, which would be India’s second private launch after Skyroot’s Vikram-S.

It has so far raised a total of $40 million, and plans to use the latest funding to prepare for commercial launches, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks to privatise the space sector and open it to foreign investment to fulfill India’s ambition of increasing its share of the global launch market five-fold within the next decade.

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In August, India beat Russia to become the first country to successfully land on the unexplored south pole of the moon, a feat Agnikul CEO co-founder and CEO Srinath Ravichandran said helped his startup’s funding prospects.

“Because of Chandrayaan-3, there is a lot of credibility in the system,” Ravichandran said, referring to the name of the moon lander. He declined to say how much the company was worth.

India currently accounts for just 2% of the $400 billion global commercial space market, a share the government has said it wants to expand to $40 billion by 2040.

To encourage business, Agnikul aims to lower the cost of launches to “a fraction of our competitors” and plans to offer a launch platform where pricing is not dependent on the mass of payload, Ravichandran said.

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Agnikul has started integrating Agnibaan, its customizable, 2-stage launch vehicle which can take up to 300 kg (about 660 lb) of payload to orbits around 700 km (435 miles), it said.

Founded in 2017, the company runs India’s first private launchpad and mission control centre. The Indian space agency, ISRO, operates all other launchpads in India.

“(Agnikul’s) mission underscores the spirit of collaboration amongst the Indian Space Research Organization, space regulators and entrepreneurs in driving advancements within India’s vibrant space-tech ecosystem,” said Arun Kumar, managing partner at Celesta Capital, which paid into the latest funding round.

Other investors include Rocketship.vc, Artha Venture Fund, Artha Select Fund and Mayfield India.