Tuesday, only seconds before launch, India’s Agnikul Cosmos canceled the test flight of its maiden rocket, the fourth one in as many months.
Three previous attempts at launching India’s second privately constructed rocket—the first utilizing a mixture of gas and liquid fuel—had been aborted due to technical problems, one of which was canceled just ninety seconds before takeoff.
Tuesday’s launch was originally planned to take place at 5:45 a.m. IST (0015 GMT), but officials postponed it by less than six minutes “due to a technical glitch in the countdown activities.” As a result, the launch time was moved to 9:25 a.m.
Nevertheless, the launch was canceled completely and placed on “temporary hold to check igniter performance” with just five seconds remaining before liftoff.
It was anticipated that the trip, which tested the new “semi-cryogenic” engine and 3D-printed parts, would last two minutes. A semi-cryogenic engine, which uses a mixture of liquid and gas as propellant, has not yet been flown successfully by India’s Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). If it had been successful, it would have been a technological milestone for the country.
According to the business, Agnikul Cosmos’ Agnibaan rocket is a 2-stage, customizable launch vehicle that can carry up to 300 kg (660 lb) of payload into orbits up to 700 km (435 miles) high. With SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, low Earth orbit can hold up to 63,500 kg of cargo.
In 2022, the business Skyroot launched India’s first privately built rocket from ISRO’s launch pad.
Agnikul, which got its name from the Sanskrit and Hindi words for fire, was founded in 2017 and manages the nation’s first private launchpad and mission control center. ISRO is in charge of all other launchpads.
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