Rise of India's space-tech start-ups: AgniKul becomes first to receive ISRO’s flight termination system to ensure civilian safety

In a move that is going to provide a major boost to partnerships between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the private sector firms engaged in commercial space activities, Chennai-based Agnikul has received Flight Termination System (FTS) packages from the national space agency for its maiden fully controlled sub-orbital mission.

This is the first time that a system used on ISRO launch vehicles is being shared to support a launch vehicle built by an entity in the private sector. The transfer has been supported by the single window nodal agency for promoting and regulating space-tech players, IN-SPACe.

An FTS – also called Thrust Termination System (TTS) – is designed to destroy the rocket in case it goes off course to threaten people and assets on the ground. These packages would be used for Agnikul’s upcoming mission from ISRO’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota.

The official handing over of the FTS packages happened in an event held earlier this week at ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) research facility in Thiruvananthapuram. The ceremony attended by teams from IN-SPACe, VSSC and AgniKul marked the culmination of multiple rounds of interactions regarding interfacing, handling and using these systems on AgniKul’s rockets.

AgniKul’s first mission involves tracking a controlled flight on a predetermined trajectory.

“This is a significant step forward for Agnikul in terms of getting ready for a launch from ISRO’s launchpads,” said co-founder & CEO AgniKul, Srinath Ravichandran.”

“We are glad to be having the opportunity to interface with a system that ISRO has used on its vehicles,” co-founder & COO Agnikul, Moin SPM said.

The company said that the system would go a long way in addressing the concerns around the safety of their test flights. On Tuesday AgniKul announced successful trials of the world’s first single-piece 3D engine Agnilet VSSC.

Founded in 2017 by aerospace engineers Srinath Ravichandran, Moin SPM, and IIT-Madras faculty member Prof. SR Chakravarthy, AgniKul seeks to make space accessible and affordable. The startup was the first Indian spacetech company to ink an agreement with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in December 2020 to access the space agency’s expertise and facilities to test its systems.

Agnikul has raised a total funding of $35 million from Rocketship.vc, Mayfield India, pi Ventures, Speciale Invest, and a clutch of angel investors, including Anand Mahindra and Naval Ravikant.

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