Indian aerospace start-up Skyroot Aerospace has reportedly test-fired an upper-stage rocket engine successfully.
In doing so, the start-up became the first Indian private company to test a rocket engine developed in the country, the Economic Times (ET) reported.
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Named Raman, the lightweight 3D-printed rocket engine features a small number of moving parts.
The company has been founded by Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka and is supported by CureFit founders Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori, and Solar Industries.
Chandana was quoted by ET as saying: “We demonstrated India’s first 100% 3D-printed bi-propellant liquid rocket engine injector.
“Compared to traditional manufacturing, this reduced the overall mass by 50%, the total number of components and lead time by 80%.”
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By GlobalDataThe company is planning to develop a family of rockets, the first one of which will be capable of carrying 250kg-700kg satellites into a lower-Earth orbit.
Skyroot Aerospace also expects to raise around $12m this year.
Daka was quoted by Business Standard as saying: “We have completed multiple test firings to qualify our solid propellant formulation.
“We have developed in-house software for launch vehicle guidance, navigation and control functions and testing for onboard avionics modules is in progress.
“We are targeting our first launch in December 2021.”
Last September, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) planned to test the semi-cryogenic engine (SCE) in Ukraine, following the unsuccessful lunar landing.
