Agnikul Cosmos, the country’s first and only private factory commited to build rocket engines, opened on Wednesday. It is located in Chennai and was inaugurated by N.Chandrasekaran, chairman, Tata Sons, and S. Somanath, chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
According to the company, special manufacturing technology will be used to build 3D printed rocket engines, and will evolve engines for its in-house rockets.
Srinath Ravichandran, chief executive, Agnikul Cosmos, said that the provision can at present build up to two rocket engines every week. This will enable it to assemble enough engines required for the launch of Agnibaan, its two-stage launch vehicle, which is anticipated to take place at the end of this year.
“Since companies and organizations looking to launch satellites no longer have access to Russian facilities, and launching aboard heavy rockets could be expensive, small orbital launch vehicles can help India win a large chunk of satellite launch orders in the near future,” Ravichandran stated. He further mentioned that the company will require an extra week to launch the Agnibaan rocket once the engines are prepared.
Agnikul Cosmos informed it already has partners who are setting small-sized satellites for launch on Agnibaan, and that the factory will meet this demand. Agnibaan is even lighter than ISRO’s upcoming small, light commercial rocket, the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV). It is an ultra-light launch vehicle.
“Gaining the ability to build small, easy to build, and affordable rockets on a conveyor belt setup will help India build capacity to attract a larger chunk of the global satellite launch market,” mentioned Chaitanya Girl, who is a consultant at Research and Information System for Developing Countries, a New Delhi-based research institute.
ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLVs), which were developed by an industry syndicate including Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and Larsen & Toubro, could provide India with multiple approaches for educational institutes, research organizations and private companies to launch their own satellites.
