Agnibaan. Agnibaan (Sanskrit, ISO:  'Fire',  'Arrow', ) is a mobile small-lift launch system currently under development, produced by Agnikul Cosmos in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is capable of placing a 100 kg (220 lb) satellite into a 700 km (430 mi) orbit. The rocket will be 18 meters long with a diameter of 1.3 meters and a lift-off mass of 14,000 kg (31,000 lb). The Agnibaan rocket has three stages. The first stage is powered by seven Agnilet engines. The second stage is powered by the same Agnilet engine which will have a larger nozzle than the sea level nozzle to optimize it for vacuum.

Design

Engines 
Agnibaan will use clustered engines in various configurations in the first stage, depending on the payload. It will also use a vacuum optimized version of the Agnilet in the second stage. These engines use liquid oxygen and Kerosene their oxidizer and fuel. The first stage of the Agnibaan is powered by 7 Agnite engines, each with a thrust of 25 kN (yet to be tested) at sea level.

These are all electric-pump-fed engines allowing for simplified engine design and highly configurable engine clustering architectures. It is capable of operating with a sea-level Isp of 285 seconds. The entire combustion section is a single-piece assembly and is fully 3D printed. The second stage of the vehicle also uses an Agnilet engine optimized for vacuum use. It is thought to deliver up to 355 seconds of Isp in a vacuum. An optional infant stage sits inside the payload fairing.

Launch site 
It is being built with the capability to launch from multiple launch ports across the world in mind. "Dhanush" (Sanskrit, ISO: , ) - the launch pedestal is being designed to support full mobility across all configurations of Agnibaan. As opposed to (current versions of) Agnibaan, Dhanush is meant for reusability. Dimensions of Dhanush are designed keeping in mind road dimensions and transportability restrictions globally.

Schedule 
The company previously aimed to develop and launch its first rocket in 2021. A Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) was signed with the Department of Space to obtain the government's technological assistance in the development of launch vehicles on 3 December 2020. However, the company entered into an agreement with Alaska Aerospace Corporation to launch a rocket from Kodiak Launch Complex as a commercial launch pad to test rockets was not available in India. "We are planning to test launch our rocket Agnibaan before 2022 end. Our plan is to launch the rocket from a mobile launch pad. The test launch will happen from India's rocket port Sriharikota belonging to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)", said Srinath Ravichandran, co-founder and CEO, Agnikul Cosmos. No rocket was launched in 2022.

Launch history

Test variant 

A test flight of knocked down version of the rocket Agnibaan SORTeD successfully flew on a suborbital mission on 30 May 2024 from SDSC, after being postponed several times due to many issues.

See also 

Indian Space Research Organisation
Skyroot Aerospace
Small-lift launch vehicle

Rockets of similar class

Electron (rocket)
Falcon 1
SSLV
Vega (rocket)
Vikram 1

References 

Spacecraft
Space launch vehicles of India
Vehicles introduced in 2022