The Chennai-based space startup is literally reaching for the stars. In May, it took a big step in that direction, successfully test-launching its single-piece 3D printed semi-cryogenic rocket. Called Agnibaan–SOrTeD (suborbital technological demonstrator), the rocket was launched from the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.
It was the startup’s first test flight, and demonstrated its homegrown technology. The test run also gathered crucial flight data for Agnikul’s orbital launch vehicle, the Agnibaan.
The company used an industrial 3D printer to make the semi-cryogenic rocket engine as “a single piece in less than a week—right from the place where the fuel enters the engine, till the exhaust and nozzle,” Srinath Ravichandran, Agnikul’s co-founder and CEO, told Mint.
3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, fabricates complex objects by depositing materials layer by layer. Raw materials are fed into the 3D printer for the machine to produce the desired part. Agnikul uses Inconel 718, a high-temperature aerospace alloy, to make its rocket engines.
The test flight took place from another piece of engineering designed by Agnikul’s team: India’s first private mobile launchpad. Called Dhanush, the mobile launchpad allows the company the flexibility to launch a rocket from any location. Having tasted success, Agnikul now wants to solve the small-satellite problem by launching “on-demand rockets” from various global locations with its mobile launchpad, and having them “in orbit within two weeks of signing a contract”.
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Currently, many small satellites share rides on larger rockets. The founders hope that Agnibaan will be the vehicle of choice for entities looking to release such small payloads into space. “Agnibaan can be configured to accommodate payloads ranging between 30kg and 300kg. Hence, anyone with less than 300kg is our target audience,” said Srinath.
The key problem isn’t cost but the waiting period, said the Agnikul co-founder. He explained that a typical rocket engine comprises many parts, including a combustion chamber, customized spark plug, an injector, cooling system, copper tubes, nozzles and ignitors, all of which need to be welded, fastened or screwed together. This is a challenge in terms of time and quality consistency, and typically takes 16-18 weeks to build from scratch. A “single-piece” rocket engine, on the other hand, is an on-demand option that can be built in just three days.
“We aim to create rockets that can be easily configured based on the satellite’s size and destination,” said Srinath. The rockets, he said, will be “configurable”, implying that Agnikul can increase or reduce the number of engines, depending on the weight of the satellites it’s carrying.
Eye on the pie
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In doing all this, Agnikul aims to grab a small slice of the gigantic global space technology market. The market was worth $443.20 billion in 2023 and is forecast to touch about $916.85 billion by 2033, spurred by the increasing demand for satellite services across various industries, according to Precedence Research. India, though, is estimated to have just a miniscule 2% share of the market.
The good news is that the Indian space economy has the potential to reach $44 billion in the next 10 years from the current $8.4 billion, according to India’s space promotion agency, IN-SPACe, “expanding India’s share of the global space economy by 4x from the current 2% to 8%”.
The space market is highly competitive, and comprises global space agencies such as NASA and ISRO, as well as companies that make rockets and spacecraft, such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, Airbus, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin Space Systems.
In India, aside from ISRO, there are other Indian aerospace companies and general engineering companies vying with each other, such as Larsen and Toubro, Bharat Forge, and Bharat Electronics. In addition, there are 200 or so homegrown space startups, including Agnikul, Skyroot Aerospace, Pixxel, SatSure, Dhruva Space, and Bellatrix Aerospace, looking to get a foot in the door. These startups began flourishing after the approval of the Indian Space Policy, 2023, which gave a major impetus to the private space industry, making it a lucrative investment option for investors.
The government also set up the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) as a single-window autonomous agency to promote and authorize space activities, appointing former Mahindra and Mahindra managing director Pawan Goenka as its chairman. IN-SPACe plays a crucial role as a facilitator between ISRO and private sector companies. The government’s decision to set up a ₹1,000 crore fund for space startups, which was announced in July’s union budget, is expected to expand India’s presence in the global space market.
As Agnikul gears up to get a piece of the action, we take a look at the rocket maker’s journey, the people who have been a part of it, and what comes next for the company.
Pursuing a dream
Srinath grew up in an environment where there were a lot of conversations around science—his mother was a Physics teacher and his father, a civil engineer. In 2001, he got an opportunity to visit ISRO, which was selecting student scientists from India for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)’s ‘Mars Surveyor Mission’. Srinath did not get selected in the finals, but “I got to touch a satellite for the first time”, he recalled.
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When it came time for Srinath to choose a field of study for his bachelor’s degree, however, his family opposed a career in aerospace due to the limited job opportunities in India outside of ISRO. And so, he pursued electrical engineering at the College of Engineering, Guindy (Chennai), graduating in 2006. He then worked at global engineering giant ABB, commissioning drives for blast furnaces in steel plants, but found the role unfulfilling.
Next, he enrolled for a one-year Master’s programme in Financial Engineering (combining finance and engineering) at Columbia University in 2009. This period coincided with the financial crisis, making job hunting challenging. Nevertheless, he secured a position at investment manager AXA, working in portfolio management and risk modelling. Over time, he advanced from being a quant to a trader, and finally, a portfolio manager. However, his passion for engineering, particularly aerospace, never waned.
The rise of SpaceX in the US reignited Srinath’s aspirations for a career in aerospace. In 2015, following SpaceX’s successful recovery of a booster, he decided to leave his job and pursue the dream. Srinath applied for a second master’s degree, this time in aerospace engineering, at the University of Illinois, “but I did not complete it”.
In 2016, he conceived the idea of building small rockets to meet the needs of modern, smaller satellites, which large, traditional rockets could not adequately serve. The following year, he moved back to India and co-founded Agnikul with his friend Moin SPM, who is now co-founder and COO of the startup.
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“Srinath and I knew each other from our ‘gully cricket’ days, and evenings spent in pubs with our friends, where both of us discussed ideas since we do not drink,” recalled Moin. His story is equally interesting.
Moin graduated in aeronautical engineering in 2011, following which he went to Australia to do his MBA, with specialization in aviation management. When he returned to India, he started a manufacturing cosmetics company. “We started with our own brand, and grew to become a contract manufacturer for some bigger brands as well. We generated enough revenue out of it, and saw some profit too,” he recalled. But his heart was not in his company, so “I gave it to other family members” and joined Srinath.
Prelude to the launch
Satyanarayanan R. Chakravarthy, a professor at IIT Madras and expert on solid propellant rockets, played a crucial role in mentoring Srinath and Moin. The duo approached him through multiple contacts in the summer of 2017 and sought guidance on building rockets. “Our discussions initially revolved around choosing between solid and liquid rockets,” recalled the professor.
Cheaper to build, solid rockets burn pre-mixed propellants (fuel and a source of oxygen, called an oxidiser) in a cylinder to move the aircraft through the air (thrust). Once the burning process starts, it cannot be stopped. Liquid rockets store the propellants in separate chambers, and pump them into the combustion chamber to produce thrust. This separation allows the process to be adjusted or stopped if there is a problem.
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Agnikul, which chose the liquid route, formally incorporated in December 2017. Chakravarty introduced Srinath and Moin to Ravi Perumal, a former ISRO director and Padma Bhushan recipient, whose “expertise provided invaluable insights”. They began by brainstorming rocket configurations—the number of stages, payload capacity, targeted orbits, and market potential. “Over two-three months, we explored about 50 different configurations,” said Chakravarty. Within six months, they “converged on a three-stage rocket design and embraced 3D printing, inspired by global pioneers like Rocket Lab and Relativity Space”.
In September 2018, Agnikul successfully fired the first small engine, called ‘Agnilet’, an achievement that attracted the attention of investors, leading to a seed round of $500,000. Subsequent funding rounds have taken its total funding to about $42 million. Agnikul’s investors include Mayfield, Celesta Capital, Speciale Invest, pi Ventures, and Artha Venture Fund, along with prominent angel investors, such as Anand Mahindra and Nithin Kamath.
Vishesh Rajaram, founder and managing partner at Speciale Invest, recalled that his journey with Agnikul began through an interaction facilitated by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), Chennai. “It’s here that we met Srinath and Moin. Their vision was clear and advanced for the time. They recognized the need for a launch vehicle that could be rapidly produced to meet the demands of the growing small satellite market,” he recalled.
The startup currently has over 200 employees, of which about a third are women, including 30-year-old Saranya Periaswamy, vice president of structures and aerodynamics, and 27-year-old Uma Maheshwari, associate director of engineering.
“As vehicle director, I oversee the entire process from design to manufacturing, ensuring seamless integration with the launchpad. My team comprises 26 engineers,” said Saranya.
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Maheshwari, who joined Agnikul through a campus interview, leads the propulsion and instrumentation software teams, comprising about 35 engineers. She was project director of the Agnibaan–SOrTeD mission. “While Saranya was the vehicle director for the mission, I was responsible for getting the vehicle ready,” she said, pride writ large over her face.
Competition heating up
While Agnikul is currently focusing on small satellites, it’s a segment other space startups are also eyeing. Hyderabad-headquartered Skyroot Aerospace, for instance, successfully launched India’s and South Asia’s first privately-developed rocket, Vikram-S, in November 2022.
“Skyroot’s Vikram-1 small satellite launcher is modular, and is capable of carrying satellite payloads ranging from 200-800 kg. We will largely target the lower orbits, which is also where most of the demand is,” said Pawan Kumar Chandana, the company’s CEO and co-founder.
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Skyroot, which was founded by Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka, both former ISRO engineers, has raised the most funding ($95 million) among Indian space startups till date. Given that space is capex intensive, this gives it an advantage.
Chandana noted that last April, Skyroot, too, had test-fired its 3D-printed Dhawan II cryogenic engine. “One of the engine stages is 3D-printed. This helps us achieve scalability for our on-demand rocket launch model. For the upper booster stage, we use carbon fibre in the engine to reduce weight and maximize efficiency,” he said.
However, Skryoot chose not to build a single-piece 3D-printed engine because it “gives us the advantage of being able to repair and fix any part of the engine in case of a fault”. In fully 3D-printed engines, he argues, “the whole engine needs to be made from scratch in case of an error”.
Chakravarthy disagrees with this view. “We have a pedigree of having tested this fully integrated 3D printed rocket engine 10 times over,” he said, adding, “Fortunately for us, the launch, too, was a success because very few rockets succeed in their maiden flight.”
One of the engine stages is 3D-printed. This helps us achieve scalability for our on-demand rocket launch model.
— Pawan Kumar Chandana
Agnikul, however, got the launch right only on its fourth attempt. The earlier attempts—on 22 March, 6 April and 7 April—had to be called off due to technical difficulties. “They were attempts—the mission didn’t fail. The rocket did not leave the launchpad. So, our first flight was actually a success,” Chakravarty insisted.
That said, many companies use 3D printing for space parts and even rockets today. In 2017, US-based Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket was powered by a 3D engine. Four years later, US-based Relativity Space successfully launched an “almost entirely 3D printed” rocket called Terran 1, though it failed to reach orbit. In India, ISRO successfully tested a 3D printed liquid rocket engine in early May.
Going commercial
“We have managed to get the tech right. Now, we’re readying for commercialization and are looking at the next launch somewhere around the first or second quarter of calendar year 2025,” said Srinath. “We have letters of intent with about nine customers so far and are talking to 40-50 other customers for the next few launches.”
These customers, he added, without naming any for confidentiality reasons, are across sectors—most of them are in the communication space, while some are in logistics and telecom. “Simply put, anyone who wants to put small satellites in orbit to enable some form of communication can be our customer,” said the co-founder.
Chaitanya Giri, space consultant and associate professor at Pune’s Flame University, said that there is no one set formula to success, and all small satellite launch service providers are looking for ways to maximise the efficiency of their rockets.
“More than competing against SpaceX, it’s about trying to find addressable market areas. Eventually, this is what will give India’s space-launch companies a niche to serve,” said Giri. “Agnikul Cosmos has its strengths. It now needs a smooth second launch to make a better commercial case for itself.”
Shouvik Das contributed to this story