Agnikul Cosmos inaugurates India's first private rocket launchpad

The launchpad will support liquid-stage controlled launches and address the need for the ISRO's range operations team to monitor key flight safety parameters during launches.

Additionally, it has the ability to share data and other vital information with ISRO's Mission Control Center as required.

In December, the startup will use the launchpad to test launch its Agnibaan launch vehicle, which is powered by a 3D-printed, patented engine called Agnilet.

Based on the results of the launch, the company intends to conduct a commercial launch with customer payloads in March or April 2023.

Agnibaan is a two-stage, customizable launch vehicle capable of delivering up to 100 kg of payload to orbits around 700 km in altitude (low Earth orbits) and enabling plug-and-play configuration.

Agnilet is the world's first single-piece 3D-printed engine that was entirely designed and manufactured in India. It was successfully test-fired at ISRO in early 2021, becoming the first company in the country to do so.

S Somanath, Chairman of ISRO and Secretary of the Department of Space, inaugurated the facility in Sriharikota on November 25. S Unnikrishnan Nair, Director of VSSC, and A Rajarajan, Director of SDSC SHAR, among others, were in attendance.

ISRO chairman S Somanath (centre) inaugurating the launchpad at Sriharikota

“The first exclusive launch pad for a private launch vehicle has come up at Satish Dhawan Space Center (SDSC). Now India can travel to space from one more space platform. Thanks to Agnikul,” Somanath said at the inauguration event

"The ability to launch from our own launchpad while still working with ISRO's launch operations teams is a privilege that we have been granted by ISRO & IN-SPACe, and I am deeply grateful to them for the same," said Srinath Ravichandran, Co-founder & CEO, Agnikul.

Srinath Ravichandran, Moin SPM, and Prof. SR Chakravarthy founded the startup at IIT Madras in 2017. It has raised $15 million to date, including $11 million in a Series A round backed by investors such as Mayfield India and angel investors Anand Mahindra and Nithin Kamath.

In December 2020, the IIT Madras-incubated startup became the first Indian company to sign an agreement with ISRO. The IN-SPACe agreement granted Agnikul access to the Indian space agency's expertise and facilities in order to build Agnibaan and its launchpads.