Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra has invested in AgniKul Cosmos Pvt. Ltd., which testfired the country’s first 3D printed rocket engine last week.
Srinath Ravichandran, co-founder and CEO of AgniKul Cosmos, has come on board as an angel investor in the Indian space startup. “As a hardware startup, we always are looking for others who can help us,” he said.
“AGNIKUL is a startup that will build launch vehicles to carry micro/nano satellites to low earth orbit on demand. They recently test-fired a fully 3D printed semi cryo rocket engine at IIT Madras. Terrific champions of the future. I’ve personally invested in the company,” Mahindra tweeted.
AgniKul, incubated at IIT-Madras, is building a small rocket that can launch 100 kg satellites into low earth orbit. Under the newly proposed IN-SPACe, Agnikul is the first company to sign a pact with the Department of Space (DoS).
Unlike conventional rocket engines that have hundreds of moving parts, AgniKul has taken the newer approach to 3D print the entire Agnilet engine as one part. This would make the engine lighter and have scope for little errors, a fact proven by its successful test.
