Agnikul Cosmos successfully carries out key test ahead of planned launch

From left: AgniKul Cosmos co-founder and COO Moin SPM and CEO Srinath Ravichandran

Chennai-based space tech start-up Agnikul Cosmos successfully completed the flight acceptance test of their 3D printed rocket engine that is going to be used in their upcoming space flight.

The launch of Agnikul's rocket Agnibaan in the coming months, will be the second private rocket launch from India after Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace's Vikram-S. Like Vikram-S, Agnbaan's flight will also be suborbital, which means that it will reach below the Earth's orbit.

During the test, the 3D printed rocket engine Aginlet burnt for 108 seconds, generated sea level thrust of 6 kilo Newton (kN).

Unlike other rocket engines, Agnilet was built in a single step, eliminating the thousands of parts that are typically assembled in a conventional rocket engine; and they recently obtained a patent for the engine.

"Humbled to announce the successful completion of the flight acceptance test of our 6kN Agnilet engine that will be used for our upcoming controlled suborbital flight. Thankful to the IN-SPACe team to have come in person & experienced this live with all of us,"  Srinath Ravichandra, CEO of Agnikul Cosmos said.

Flight acceptance tests are usually carried out to validate various parameters such as integrity of hardware, assessment of subsystems' performance; tuning engine for meeting mission requirements and so on.

Moneycontrol has reached out to the start-up with further queries, and the article will be updated when a response is received.

This test comes a few months after the IIT Madras incubated start-up successfully test fired Agnilet at ISRO's Vikram Sarabhai Space Center in Thiruvananthapuram.

"This test sort of taught us how to do it professionally at the level and at the quality at which an organisation like ISRO would conduct tests. This was a huge learning experience for us as well," Ravichandran had said regarding the test conducted at the ISRO facility.

After the suborbital launch, which will help in validating in necessary technologies, Agnikul will be getting ready for a full-scale commercial launch by March/April 2023.

"There are a lot of people who have expressed interest to be part of the launch. So I think once our test is done, we will start converting them into like actual contracts," Ravichandran had said.

Ravichandran and Moin SPM, an operations specialist, founded the IIT Madras-incubated startup in 2017. It has raised $15 million to date, including $11 million in a Series A round last year backed by investors like venture capital firm Mayfield India and angel investors Anand Mahindra and Nithin Kamath.