Agnikul cancels the launch of Agnibaan sub-orbital rocket

Sunday was the third attempt at a test launch of the Agnibaan Sub-Orbital Technology Demonstrator (SORTED) since March 22, when the test flight was first scheduled to be conducted at the Agnikul launch pad at ISRO’s Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota.

The second attempt of test launch at 7.50 am on Saturday morning was also not successful.

On Sunday, the launch of Agnibaan SOrTeD was scheduled for 5.30 am, but it was postponed to 7.50 am.

“Today’s launch attempt of Agnibaan SOrTeD had to be aborted just one second (at T-129 seconds) into the Automated Launch Sequence (ALS) initiation due to a communication issue between our two onboard hardware,” the Chennai-based start-up said. ” ,

Also read: Indian space start-up Agnikul raises additional $27 million to launch its first rocket

Agnikul said on

Agnikul is looking to launch India’s second private rocket, after startup Skyroot Aerospace’s November 2022 launch of the Vikram-S sub-orbital rocket.

According to the company, Agnibaan is a customizable, two-stage launch vehicle that can carry a payload of up to 300 kg to an orbit of about 700 km.

The rocket uses a semi-cryogenic engine with a mixture of liquid and gas propellant, a technology that the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has not yet featured in any of its rockets.

The SOrTeD mission is a single-stage launch vehicle demonstration that will be powered by a semi-cryogenic engine, Agnilet, a sub-cooled liquid oxygen-based propulsion system developed indigenously.

The start-up has equipped the vehicle with India’s first Ethernet-based avionics architecture and completely in-house developed autopilot software.

Powered by sub-cooled liquid oxygen (LOX) and aviation turbine fuel (ATF), the vehicle is equipped with four carbon composite wings to provide passive control.

The Agnilet engine is the world’s first single-piece 3D-printed semi-cryogenic rocket engine.

The mission will last just over two minutes from launch to splashdown.

After lift-off, the vehicle is expected to perform a pitch-over maneuver approximately four seconds into flight.

This maneuver involves controlled rotation to change the vehicle’s orientation from vertical to a predetermined angle with respect to the ground or its flight path.

The vehicle will then go into a wind-biased maneuver in just over 39 seconds, which is introduced to compensate for the effect of wind on the rocket’s trajectory during ascent.

At 1 minute 29 seconds, the launch vehicle is expected to reach its apogee, the point that will be furthest from the launch site, before it drops down just over two minutes into the flight, marking the completion of the mission. Is a symbol.

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Published: 07 April 2024, 10:14 PM IST