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Agnikul fires its 3D-printed Agnite engine through thrust sweeps ahead of Mission-02
The Chennai launch startup says the long-duration test brings its Agnibaan rocket closer to its next flight.
Agnikul Cosmos, the Chennai launch startup, has published a video of its Agnite semi-cryogenic engine running through a series of thrust sweeps and then firing for longer than the maximum burn time of some of its ascent-phase engines, India Today reported on 6 October. Thrust sweeps vary the engine's output to understand throttling, which is needed to control a rocket in flight.
Agnite is Agnikul's booster stage engine. It stands about one metre tall and is made as a single, fully 3D-printed piece. Instead of turbomachinery, it uses electric motor driven pumps to feed propellant, India Today reported. It will power Agnibaan, the company's small satellite launcher. Agnikul made history in May 2024 when its Agnibaan SOrTeD mission lifted off from India's first privately operated launchpad at Sriharikota.
Space Exploration .IN noted that the announcement did not give the burn duration, throttle range or measured thrust, and that it is a company reported ground test without independent validation. It reported that Agnikul's media archive lists an Agnite booster test in March, a repeatability test in April and a four-engine cluster firing in May, and that the company's mission page lists orbital launch windows in the first and second quarters of 2027.
