On Tuesday, the India Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced the successful completion of a hot test of a rocket engine developed by Agnikul Cosmos, an aerospace startup. Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO’s lead centre for launch vehicle development, hosted the hot test.
On November 4, the Agnilet Engine was fired for 15 seconds at the Vertical Test Facility, Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS), Thiruvananthapuram. The engine is a 1.4 kN semi-cryogenic regeneratively cooled engine that operates at a chamber pressure of 10.8 bar and uses liquid oxygen and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) as propellants.
The test was part of the memorandum signed between ISRO and M/s Agnikul Cosmos Pvt. Ltd. to provide an opportunity for Indian space start-ups to use the facilities of ISRO through IN-SPACe.
The announcement came just hours after another aerospace startup Skyroot announced that it will launch a privately developed rocket in the second week of November. The Prarambh mission will take off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at ISRO in Sriharikota.
While the company has stated that the mission could be launched between November 12-16, no details about the final launch date have been released. IN-SPACe, the country’s nodal agency for promoting and regulating space-tech players, has already granted the company technical launch clearance.
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