Chennai, July 14 (UNI) Space tech startup Agnikul on Wednesday opened its new rocket making facility — Rocket Factory 1 — which is set to be India’s first-ever facility dedicated to 3D-printed rocket engines at scale.
Located at IIT-Madras Research Park, the 10,000-square-foot space was unveiled by Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran and Isro chairman S Somanath in the presence of Pawan Goenka, the chairman of IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre).
Agnikul did not specify the investment that went into the facility, but co-founder Srinath Ravichandran told TOI that it has a capacity to make two rocket engines per week and thereby one launch vehicle every month. It will house machinery, including a 400mm x 400mm x 400mm metal 3D-printer from EOS that will enable end-to-end manufacturing of a rocket engine under one roof.
Agnikul had earlier entered into an agreement with EOS in 2021 as their 3D printing partner for engines.
“This is a milestone for us as we go from R&D phase into core manufacturing with the opening of this facility, and begin productionizing the launch vehicle engine making. We have a lot of inbound interest [for launches] from global quarters going up to 2024,” Ravichandran said.
“At full scale, the facility will have around 30-35 people working on various processes and machinery, and we have already staffed the factory with over 90% staff,” he added.
Founded in 2017 by Srinath Ravichandran, Moin SPM and SR Chakravarthy (professor of IIT-Madras), Agnikul is making Agnibaan, a customizable, 2-stage launch vehicle, capable of taking up to 100 kg payload to orbits around 700 km high (low Earth orbits) and enables plug-and-play configuration.
Agnibaan comprises of a single-piece 3D printed engine Agnilet that is fully designed and manufactured in India and was successfully test-fired in early 2021. Agnikul has raised total funding of Rs 105 crore from Mayfield India, pi Ventures, Speciale Invest, and other angels such as Anand Mahindra and Naval Ravikant since 2019. It is currently in discussion with investors to close its next funding round soon, Ravichandran said.
