8 months ago
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Chennai-headquartered Spacetech startup Agnikul Cosmos connected Monday announced the commissioning of a state-of-the-art additive manufacturing installation dedicated to aerospace and rocket systems. The installation introduces a afloat integrated ecosystem - covering design, simulation, printing, post-processing, and finishing to heighten quality, reliability, and proviso concatenation resilience, portion lowering the outgo of gathering for abstraction by 50 per cent.
The installation besides enables 3D printing of aerospace and rocket components up to 1 metre successful height. By making it imaginable to nutrient parts that were antecedently considered hard for additive manufacturing, Agnikul tin present present afloat finished, flight-ready hardware wrong a fewer days - importantly accelerating improvement timelines portion expanding what tin beryllium achieved done 3D printing.
Complementing the printing capableness is an indigenously designed & developed de-powdering machine, an important post-processing strategy that ensures flawless aboveground decorativeness and space-grade prime connected additively manufactured parts. Designed & developed in-house, the instrumentality reduces outer dependencies and ensures accordant quality.
“We decided to person our ain machines to summation power implicit the prime and processes. At the aforesaid time, it gives america the state to not beryllium babelike connected others,” Moin SPM, Co-founder & COO of Agnikul Cosmos told The Hindu. “Earlier, we were sourcing these machines from Germany and different countries. Now, we are focusing not conscionable connected manufacturing but besides connected in-house design,” helium added. “All this is being done astatine the installation successful Taramani, which is dispersed crossed 10,000 sq ft”, Mr. Moin said.
“Agnikul was started with the extremity of making abstraction disposable to everyone. One mode to bash that is physique capableness that allows america to beforehand rocket manufacturing with precision portion besides focusing connected quality,” said Srinath Ravichandran, Co-founder & CEO of Agnikul Cosmos. “By processing not conscionable printing capableness but besides afloat standard machines in-house, we are equipping ourselves to physique abstraction proscription systems faster, bringing america 1 measurement person to taking Agnikul’s innovations & our customers to space”.
Agnikul holds a US patent for single-piece 3D-printed rocket engines. This installation volition let the institution to people engines measuring 1 metre and present 7 times the thrust of its earlier designs. With this installation present commissioned, the institution tin manufacture these engines successful conscionable days, and that excessively inhouse - accelerating improvement cycles and enabling accelerated innovation astatine scale.
Last year, this IIT Madras-incubated startup launched the world’s archetypal rocket — Agnibaan Sub Orbital Technology Demonstrator (SOrTeD) — with a azygous portion 3D-printed motor from Sriharikota. Agnibaan SOrTeD is India’s archetypal motorboat from a backstage launchpad, called ‘Dhanush’, established by Agnikul. It is besides India’s archetypal semi-cryogenic engine-powered rocket motorboat and the world’s archetypal azygous portion 3D-printed motor designed and built indigenously. To a query connected the learnings from the launch, Mr. Moin said, “Building a rocket is different, and launching a rocket is different. This time, we are focusing connected the crushed strategy arsenic well, truthful that we bash not brushwood immoderate issues. We are being much cautious this time.”
Agnikul is backed by starring planetary and home investors, including Celesta Capital, Rocketship.vc, Artha Venture Fund, Artha Select Fund, Mayfield India, Pi Ventures, and Speciale Invest, with a full superior rise of $45 cardinal to date.
