Skip to main content

Agnikul opens India's first rocket engine factory in Chennai

Space tech startup Agnikul Cosmos today inaugurated India's first-ever facility to manufacture 3D-printed rocket engines in Chennai.

Named Rocket Factory 1, it was unveiled by Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran and Isro chairman S Somanath in the presence of Pawan Goenka, the chairman of IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre). The 10,000-square-foot facility is located at IIT-Madras Research Park. It will have a 400mm x 400mm x 400mm metal 3D-printer from  EOS that will enable end-to-end manufacturing of a rocket engine under one roof.


The manufacturing facility has a capacity to make two rocket engines per week and thereby one launch vehicle every month, Agnikul co-founder Srinath Ravichandran told TOI.

"This s a milestone for us as we go from R&D phase into core manufacturing with the opening of this facility, and begin productionizing the launch vehicle engine making. We have a lot of inbound interest [for launches] from global quarters going up to 2024," Ravichandran said. 

 Agnikul is making Agnibaan, a customizable, 2-stage launch vehicle, capable of taking up to 100 kg payload to orbits around 700 km high (low Earth orbits) and enables plug-and-play configuration.
Agnibaan comprises of a single-piece 3D printed engine Agnilet that is fully designed and manufactured in India and was successfully test-fired in early 2021. Agnikul has raised a total funding of Rs 105 crore from Mayfield India, pi Ventures, Speciale Invest and other angels such as Anand Mahindra and Naval Ravikant since 2019. It is currently in discussion with investors to close its next funding round soon, Ravichandran added.


"At full scale, the facility will have around 30-35 people working on various processes and machinery, and we have already staffed the factory with over 90% staff," he added.

Agnikul was founded in 2017 by Srinath Ravichandran, Moin SPM and SR Chakravarthy (professor of IIT-Madras). The startup is making Agnibaan, a customizable, 2-stage launch vehicle, capable of taking up to 100 kg payload to orbits around 700 km high (low Earth orbits) and enables plug-and-play configuration.

In December 2020, Agnikul had signed an agreement with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) under the IN-SPACE initiative to have access to the space agency's expertise and its facilities to build rocket engines.

Agnibaan Engine

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ISRO is silently building Reusable Launch Vehicle

The Indian space agency is literally growing new wings as it gets ready to test a scaled down version of what can easily be described as the `swadeshi Space Shuttle'. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) calls it the `Reusable Launch Vehicle' or RLV. If all goes to plan very soon it will be seen flying over the Science City in Challakere, Karnataka, where the first landing experiment is being planned. S Somanath, Chairman, ISRO says "We are working silently on reusable rocket technology, with a very low budget, low cost and low investment." In the past USA and Russia have flown full-fledged winged space vehicles. Russia/USSR flew its vehicle called `Buran' only once in 1988 and the program was then shelved. USA made 135 flights of the Space Shuttle and in 2011 it was retired. Since then in a new burst of energy, USA, China and India are the only countries having an active program of re-useable rocket development. If all goes as per plan India's full...
Post a Comment
Read more

ISRO is getting ready for Gaganyaan Abort Test with Special Test Vehicle

The first abort test using the special test vehicle (TV) part of #Gaganyaan, which was earlier targeted for the last quarter of this calendar year, is now expected only in early 2023. ISRO chairman S Somanath told: “There’s been a lot of progress & at this juncture we're looking at the first test in early 2023. The test vehicle is already at SHAR (spaceport in Sriharikota) and work on the crew module (CM) and crew escape system (CES) is progressing. As reported earlier, the test — TV technology demonstrator-1 (TV-TD1) mission — will demonstrate the descent phase, parachute deployment and recovery, among other things. While there will be more than one TV-TDs, in the first one, the CM will separate from the TV at a height of around 11km (from sea level), attain an altitude of around 15km before falling back to back in the Bay of Bengal. The Sriharikota ground team will track. Once separated or ejected from TV, CM will have a free fall. Essentially, will demonstrate crew e...
Post a Comment
Read more