India’s First Four-Engine Cluster Firing Marks New Frontier for Agnikul Cosmos

• Agnikul Cosmos, the Chennai-based private launch startup, has reached another propulsion milestone: the simultaneous firing of four semi-cryogenic rocket engines, all of them 3D printed as individual, single-piece components and developed entirely in-house at the company’s Rocket Factory 1 facility. According to Agnikul, the test is the first of its kind in India involving semi-cryogenic…

Agnikul Cosmos, the Chennai-based private launch startup, has reached another propulsion milestone: the simultaneous firing of four semi-cryogenic rocket engines, all of them 3D printed as individual, single-piece components and developed entirely in-house at the company’s Rocket Factory 1 facility. According to Agnikul, the test is the first of its kind in India involving semi-cryogenic engines in a cluster configuration. India’s First Four-Engine Cluster Firing. Photo via Agnikul Cosmos. Synchronizing Eight Systems at Once What made this test technically demanding was not merely the number of engines involved, but the precision required to make them behave as one. The configuration called for eight pumps and eight electric motors, two per engine, each governed by its own independent s