Agnikul launches India’s first rocket factory to make 3D-printed engines end-to-end

Agnikul co-founders Moin and Srinath Ravichandran. Credit: DH Photo

Space tech startup Agnikul Cosmos on Wednesday launched India’s first rocket factory to make 3D-printed engines end-to-end.

Based out of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, Agnikul is arguably the only company to have designed a semi-cryo rocket that could be built as a single of 3D-printed hardware.

Agnikul had test-fired the fully 3D-printed rocket engine, Agnilet in early 2021. The startup is currently building the country’s first private small satellite rocket, Agnibaan, with a capacity to carry up to 100 kg of payload to low Earth orbits up to 700 km.

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In an interaction with DH, the startup CoFounder Srinath Ravichandran says the rocket will have the capability for a plug-and-play engine configuration that is configurable to precisely match the mission's needs.

On the 3D-printed engine, Srinath elaborates, "A rocket engine has thousands of parts that have to be independently made, verified, qualified and finally welded together. Our team has used 3D printing technology to push the engine as a single component. There are no assemblies, no conventional process of integration. It comes out of the printer as a fully made rocket engine."

The team, he adds, has already tested the engine multiple times. The rocket that will use this engine stands 20m tall and 1.5m wide. "We are confident of the engine’s capability to deliver, and it will be a big winner from a business standpoint as well," he says.

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Inking a deal with EOS to access the 3D printing technology, Agnikul has set up all the facilities for the engine under one roof at the factory. "Starting from the printer, all the other machinery for measurements and fine-tuning and assembly are housed here. Raw material enters here and what exists is the fully made rocket engine," Srinath informs.

"Thirty rocket scientists, engineers and associated staff working at multiple facilities across the factory, Agnikul currently has the capacity to churn out two engines a week," says the CoFounder.

In December 2020, Agnikul Cosmos emerged as the first startup to sign a pact with the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro). The objective was to tap into Isro’s expertise and facilities, to help build its own rocket.