Chennai-based space start-up Agnikul Cosmos inaugurated its private launchpad and mission control centre at Indian Space Research Centre’s Sriharikota centre. India’s first private rocket launchpad was unveiled by S Somnath, ISRO Chief and Secretary of the Department of Space, at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. The launchpad will see its first launch within a few weeks.
“The first exclusive launch pad for a private launch vehicle has come up at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC). So, now India can travel to space from one more space platform. Thanks to Agnikul,” Somanath said in a statement.
Agnikul will be launching its rocket which can carry a 100kg payload to a low-earth orbit of up to 700km distance before the end of the year. The two-stage launch rocket is the first single-piece 3D printed engine designed in India. The first mission will be a controlled and guided vertical launch mission.
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While the Agnikul Launchpad (ALP) and Agnikul Mission Control Centre (AMCC) will be used by the private entity, the company’s chief executive Srinath Ravichandran told the Mint that the company will be open to letting other companies use the facilities in future.
The two facilities have been constructed 4 km away with several redundancies for critical connection systems to ensure 100 percent operability during the launch countdown. The ALP has been built to support liquid-stage controlled launches. Additionally, the ALP also addresses the ISRO’s range operations team to monitor key flight safety parameters during launches.
“We never imagined having Agnikul’s launch pad inside Sriharikota for our launches and this has only been possible with the support of ISRO and IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre),” said Moin SPM, co-founder of Agnikul.
(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)
