Agnikul puts off launch of Agnibaan sub-orbital rocket yet again

The 18-metre tall Agnibaan is a customisable launch vehicle designed for small satellites that can launch a maximum payload of 300 kg into 700 km low earth orbit.

Bengaluru: Space tech startup Agnikul Cosmos on Sunday postponed the test launch of its Agnibaan SOrTeD (SubOrbital Technological Demonstrator), the third deferment of the launch in the last 17 days.

The launch of the single-stage rocket powered by a semi-cryogenic engine was called off about two minutes before lift-off from Agnikul’s launchpad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, due to a “communication issue” pertaining to the onboard hardware.

“Had to call off today’s launch attempt of Agnibaan SOrTeD just a second into Automated Launch Sequence (ALS) initiation (at T-129 seconds) because of a communication issue between 2 of our onboard hardware,” Agnikul said in a statement.

The Chennai-based startup said it was “frustrating” to see a hold this close to lift-off but noted that its ALS did its job. “We’ll get to the root cause and come back for launch after fixing the cause,” it said.

Earlier, the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) – the nodal agency under the Department of Space which regulates the space sector activities of private entities – announced the launch schedule twice: initially, it was planned at around 5 am and later, 7.25 am.

The launch, slotted earlier for Saturday, was postponed due to technical issues. Agnikul originally scheduled the launch on March 22. It was deferred based on observations from the full countdown rehearsals.

The test launch was expected to gather flight data and ensure optimal functioning of systems for Agnikul’s two-stage orbital launch vehicle, Agnibaan. It was billed as the first-ever semi-cryogenic engine flight from India and the first-ever launch from a private launch pad in the country.

The 18-metre tall Agnibaan is designed for small satellites and can launch payloads of up to 300 kg into 700 km low earth orbit. Its engine configuration could be customised to match the needs of individual missions.

Agnikul, incubated at IIT-Madras, has pitched SOrTeD also as a demonstration of what it called the world’s first single-piece 3D-printed engine, designed and built indigenously. It set up India’s first privately built launchpad and mission control centre in SDSC, in November 2022.