Originals · Startup · Startups & Fintech
Astrobase will put Rs 800 Cr into growing its Andhra rocket test site from 22 acres to about 360 acres
The Bengaluru space startup signed an MoU at the CII Partnership Summit to add stage testing, hop tests and reusability trials at Thimmasamudram in Sri Sathya Sai district.
Astrobase Space Technologies, a Bengaluru based space startup, will invest Rs 800 crore to expand its rocket engine testing facility at Thimmasamudram in Andhra Pradesh's Sri Sathya Sai district. The company signed a memorandum of understanding with the Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board on Thursday, 12 November, at the 31st CII Partnership Summit in Visakhapatnam, in the presence of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, The Economic Times, India Today and Fortune India reported.
The deal adds 339 acres to the existing site of about 22 acres, taking the total to roughly 360 acres. Today the site is built for engine trials. The expansion is meant to let Astrobase test whole rocket stages: it will host launch vehicle stage development, static hot fire tests, stage level hop tests and reusability validation. India Today explained that in a hop test a rocket stage lifts off and lands under control, a step toward proving a vehicle can be flown again.
The MoU was signed by state Industries Minister TG Bharath and Astrobase CEO and cofounder Neeraj Khandelwal, Fortune India reported. Khandelwal said the company is working toward the capability to carry 1,000 tonnes of payload to space a year from Indian soil. India Today noted that this is a long term target set by the company, not an existing launch capability.
On jobs, Astrobase expects about 500 direct and 1,000 indirect roles from the expansion, according to Fortune India and India Today. The Economic Times, in a later roundup of the summit's space and defence deals, said the 500 direct jobs are planned by December 2030, and counted Astrobase as the largest of four space MoUs, alongside Bellatrix Aerospace, Hathor Rockets and XDLINX Space Labs, worth Rs 2,200 crore together.
The site sits on the Hyderabad to Bengaluru corridor, and the deal is part of a wider Andhra Pradesh push to draw private space companies. The Hindu reported the Astrobase MoU among the summit's aerospace commitments, and a day later Chennai's Agnikul Cosmos signed its own Rs 510 crore agreement for a unit in the state's Space City in Tirupati district. An MoU is a statement of intent, so the real test will be how quickly land, permits and the first stage tests follow.
