Leading from the front, Skyroot Aerospace has become the first private Indian Space start-up to test fire its own propulsion technology based on solid fuelled rocket engine. Earlier the company has achieved the feat to test fire its liquid fuelled rocket engine during the month of August. The company has been testing and preparing its own tech for its maiden rocket Vikram-1, which is to be powered by three solid fuel stages and one liquid fuelled engine.
Testing of the miniature version of solid fuelled engine (Kalam-5) was done in Nagpur at the test facility of Solar Industries, which is India’s largest explosives manufacturer and a leading Space and Defence contractor. It is to be noted that the company is also the partner and an investor of Skyroot. The engine ‘Kalam-5’ is said to have peak sea level thrust of 5.3kN.
The recent achievement of the firm indicated that they are close to achieve the dream of developing an orbital class rocket as the hardest hurdle of propulsion tech has been achieved by the company.
While talking to the Zee Media, CEO of Skyroot Aerospace, Pawan K Chandana said, “This test demonstrates the capability of our technology for the Vikram-1 rocket. Though we have fired a scaled-down engine during this successful demonstration, it must be noted that building a smaller engine is also a complex process. This successful test firing gives us the confidence that the bigger models will succeed”.