NEW DELHI: In a giant step towards attaining reusable launch vehicle technology like Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Indian space startup Agnikul Cosmos has inaugurated two new assembly and testing facilities in Chennai.The company unveiled the Stage Testing & Inspection Facility (STIF) and the Pressurant Tank Realisation, Over-wrapping and Outfitting Facility (PROOF) at its assembly and testing facility. The facilities were inaugurated in the presence of Group Captain and Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla.STIF is a fully in-house facility for testing reusable rocket stages under flight-like operating conditions. The facility also supports post-flight inspection and requalification of recovered stages. It supports thrust levels from 1 kN to 200 kN, LOX sub-cooling down to 73 K and full-duration burns of up to 150 seconds. The facility will also be used to inspect and requalify recovered stages after flight.PROOF will enable the in-house manufacturing of pressure vessels — the rocket component that holds gases or liquids at a pressure significantly different from the outside environment. The new facility can produce more than 10 vessels a month, including vessels of up to 3,500 litres and 350 bar.“The vision of bringing reusability to launch requires us to think beyond a single flight and build the capability to test, recover, inspect and prepare a stage for its next flight. STIF gives us the ability to test complete stages for the duration of their mission and inspect and requalify recovered stages. This is an important capability as we work towards Mission-02,” said Srinath Ravichandran, co-founder and CEO, Agnikul Cosmos.Grp Capt and astronaut Shukla said, “India’s space programme is entering an exciting phase, with capabilities being built across the country that will enable increasingly ambitious missions. It is encouraging to see Agnikul continue to expand its capabilities in advanced manufacturing and testing.”Headquartered in Chennai and incubated at IIT Madras, Agnikul Cosmos develops the Agnibaan family of configurable small-lift launch vehicles. In May 2024, it conducted Mission 01, Agnibaan SOrTeD, from its privately built launchpad at Sriharikota.Agnikul already designs and manufactures its single-piece, 3D-printed semi-cryogenic engines in-house and develops its avionics and other propulsion and vehicle systems.
