Agnikul Cosmos, a startup that was founded in IIT Madras in 2017 with a seed funding of Rs 3 crore, has successfully completed the first flights mission of its mobile launch system Agnibaan. The startup founded by Srinath Ravichandran conducted the mission from its first private launchpad and mission control room at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. “Humbled to announce the successful completion of Mission 01 of Agnibaan SOrTeD, our first flight from India’s first and only private launchpad at SDSC-SHAR, Sriharikota. All mission objectives for this controlled vertical ascent flight were met, and performance was nominal,” said Agnikul Cosmos on X.
“The vehicle, entirely designed in-house, was powered by the world’s first single-piece 3D printed engine, marking India’s first flight with a semi-cryogenic engine,” they added. The launch, which was earlier supposed to take place in April 2024, had been called off due to communication issue between two of the onboard hardware. “Although it is frustrating to see a HOLD this close to lift off, we are glad that our Automated Launch Sequence (ALS) did its job. We’ll get to the root cause and come back for launch after a fixing the cause,” Agnikul Cosmos Had said then.
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After the announcement of the successful first flight of Agnibaan, several notable personalities congratulated the startup. “Great achievement by the AgniKul team – congratulations on the successful completion of your first flight. This is truly “rocket science” and I am in awe of the tireless effort it must have taken. My best wishes for building a big business from this technological foundation. Our nation needs these capabilities,” said Sridhar Vembu, CEO, Zoho Corp.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) also congratulated the IIT Madras startup. “Congratulations Agnikul Cosmos 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,” said ISRO.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Union Minister of State for Entrepreneurship, Skill Develpment, Electronics and Technology, Government of India, lauded the fact that this mission was entirely Made in India. “Agnikul successfully completed its first launch from Agnikul’s own & India’s only private launchpad within SDSC-SHAR. Besides being the worlds first flight with a single piece 3D printed rocket engine, this controlled flight is also India’s first flight with a semi cryogenic engine. The vehicle was completely designed in-house in India and assembled at Agnikul’s facilities within IIT Madras,” he said.
IIT Madras also joined in to laud the achievement saying: “Congrats Agnikul Cosmos. IIT Madras incubated Agnikul successfully completes world’s first rocket launch from India’s first and only private launchpad within SDSC-SHAR. It’s the world’s 1st flight with single-piece 3D printed rocket engine.”
About Agnikul Cosmos Launch Vehicle and Launch Pad
Agnibaan meaning ‘Arrow of Fire’, is a mobile launch system that is capable of placing a 100 kg (220 lb) satellite into a 700 km (430 mi) orbit. The rocket is appriximately 18 meters long, with a diameter of 1.3 meters, and a lift-off mass of 14,000 kg (31,000 lb). It features clustered engines in its first stage, configured based on the payload, and will exclusively use LOX and kerosene-based engines. The rocket has been manufactured using 3D printing. A single-stage suborbital demonstrator, known as Agnibaan SOrTeD (Suborbital Tech Demonstrator), was initially scheduled for a test flight in April 2024.
AgniKul Cosmos inaugurated India’s first private launchpad and mission control center at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, on November 28, 2022. The launchpad and mission control center are situated 4 km apart. Currently, the launchpad is equipped to handle liquid stage launch vehicles. All critical systems at the Agnikul Launchpad (ALP) and Agnikul Mission Control Center (AMCC) feature high redundancy to ensure 100% operationality, although these systems have not yet been tested.
The ISRO range operations team will oversee key flight safety parameters during launches from ALP, while AMCC can share crucial data with ISRO’s Mission Control Center. Both facilities receive support from ISRO and the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe).
