Agnibaan rocket will launch on special 3D printed engine
Indian private space startup Agnikul Cosmos will on Friday test-fire a rocket called Agnibaan SorTeD (Suborbital Technology Demonstrator), powered by an engine that the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is still trying to master.
The company, incubated at IIT Madras, will be the first test flight from the space startup born in 2017, founded by two young aerospace engineers who dreamed of creating “a place where people learn to use fire” place”.
The 580-kilogram rocket will lift off from Sriharikota and will only reach an altitude of 20 kilometers above Earth on its first flight before crashing into the Bay of Bengal, possibly carrying a 7-kilogram payload .
Moin SPM, co-founder of Agnikul Cosmos Pvt Ltd, said the Agnibaan SorTeD will be powered by a semi-cryogenic engine that uses commercial aviation turbine fuel or mainly kerosene and medical grade liquid oxygen.
ISRO has never flown a semi-cryogenic engine and conducted the “first hot test” of a semi-cryogenic engine on a fixed test bed on July 3 last year. The company is trying something that no other private Indian company has done before.
Agnikul is demonstrating India’s private sector’s first semi-cryogenic 3D printed engine, said Dr. Pawan Goenka, a well-respected mechanical engineer and chairman of India’s National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe). , the single window regulator and promoter of all space activities in India.
Dr. Goenka said, “This bold innovation could become a significant differentiator when Indian startups begin commercial launches”.
Srinath Ravichandran, another co-founder of the space startup, said: “This launch is significant as it is the first launch from a private launch pad in India and the rocket has The world’s first single-piece 3D printed engine designed and manufactured in-house.”
“The Agnibaan SorTeD (Suborbital Technology Demonstrator) is a single-stage launch vehicle powered by Agnikul’s patented Agnilet engine, a fully 3D-printed, single-piece 6 kN semi-cryogenic engine. The Agnibaan SorTeD will lift off vertically and follow the trajectories, maneuvers and various flight events that will occur during the scheduled orbital mission have been configured to validate the technologies necessary for the success of our upcoming orbital missions. We are delighted to be able to launch the mission from our very own Dhanush located at Sriharikota launch pad to attempt the flight,” the company said in a statement.
Mr Moin said that in one of the first of many launches from India, the Agnibaan rocket will be launched on a special 3D printed engine that is a single piece of equipment and that the quality testing time for such engines has been significantly reduced through the use of 3D printing technology.
The engine will also be powered by commercial aviation turbine fuel and liquid oxygen, making cheap and readily available non-corrosive fuels readily available, Mr Moin said, adding that it would also allow rockets to be launched from multiple locations with minimal facilities long distance. Easier.
In another first, Agnicourt was granted permission to build a special launch pad close to the sea on Sriharikota island with its own dedicated control room. This is part of ISRO’s efforts to open up its facilities and facilitate Indian space companies in doing business.
“This will be the first time a private company will control a rocket flight and we are taking all precautions to ensure that nothing goes wrong and if something does go wrong then the range safety officer can activate the self-destruct mechanism provided by ISRO,” Mr Moin said.
Agnikul followed the first launch of Indian aerospace company Skyroot Aerospace Private Limited, which launched a solid-fuel sounding rocket from Sriharikota in 2022. Now that Agnikul and its Agnibaan rocket are in service, they hope to be able to launch on demand, hoping to hoist satellites weighing 30 to 300 kilograms into space.
“We want to build a purpose-built, fully customizable and transportable launch vehicle for small satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO). The launch vehicle Agnibaan is powered by a single-piece 3D printed engine and can be manufactured in 72 hours without any labor. It is compatible with a mobile launch pad called “Dhanush” which makes the launch location agnostic and best of all, it can be configured to fly at 4/5/6/7 [engines] This makes launch costs the same in the mass range from 30kg to 300kg,” the company said.
Agnikul has attracted $40 million in investment and has a team of 250 members. “The average age of Agnikul employees is 23 years old, and all of them are full of innovative spirit,” said Mr. Moin. He stressed that India can become a center for small satellite launches as more multinational companies choose to place themselves in low-Earth satellite constellations. .
