Agnikul was established in 2017 when its founders, Srinath Ravichandran and Moin SPM, identified a gap in the satellite launch industry, where the satellites were shrinking, but the rockets were still large, forcing the small satellites to opt for rideshare. To resolve this, the evolving satellite industry needed a more accessible and flexible launch system for small satellites, and Agnikul aims to solve this requirement. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The company began operations in Chennai, India, and was based at the National Center for Combustion R&D (NCCRD) at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IITM), one of the largest academic combustion centers in the world. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2019, Agnikul began signing agreements with potential customers, along with securing a seed round of funding and developing its first single-piece, fully 3D printed engine. The company also became the first space-tech business to sign an agreement with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 2020. Agnikul successfully fired its single-piece 3D printed engine for the first time in 2021, as well as raising its Series A funding during the same year. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2022, the company inaugurated two new facilities in the presence of the Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO): a state-of-the-art additive manufacturing facility called Agnikul Rocket Factory-01, which can print two rocket engines in a week; and India\u2019s first private launchpad, Agnikul Launchpad-01, at SDSC SHAR. Agnikul qualified its 3D-printed engine for flight in 2023, and successfully completed its maiden mission, Agnibaan SorTeD, Mission-01, from its own launchpad on the 30th of May 2024, marking several firsts in the global space industry.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n 2025 brought further growth and success for Agnikul, as it achieved AS9100D certification for its Rocket Factory – 01. The company inaugurated its Large Format Additive Metal Manufacturing (LFAMM) facility, which houses India\u2019s largest 3D printer and a depowdering machine, which was designed and manufactured in house, to remove the residual powder from the 3D printed part. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n To learn more about how the business is growing, we speak with Co-Founder and COO, Moin SPM. \u201cHere at Agnikul, we build 21st century rockets that are configurable according to the customer requirements and fully reusable. We charge our customers on a per kilogram, so because of the configurability of our vehicle, our customers only pay for what they launch,\u201d Moin opens. \u201cWe started out in India in 2017 as the country\u2019s first private launch vehicle company, but we have also now started in the US. We focus on small satellites with a total mass of 100-to-500 kilograms and use innovative manufacturing processes to refine space accessibility.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe core part of a rocket is its engine, and since the beginning of rocket manufacturing in the space industry, engines have been produced using conventional, subtractive manufacturing methods. However, as 3D printing has evolved over the last few years, we\u2019ve focused on using additive manufacturing methods to develop 3D-printed engines instead of conventional, subtractive manufacturing methods. Today, we\u2019ve got patents for the design and manufacturing of engines from the US, Eurasia, and India, and we have an entire facility dedicated to producing 3D printed, single-piece engines, which, as far as I\u2019m aware, isn\u2019t being done by any other company across the globe. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere are several advantages to 3D printed engines, as producing the engine in a single piece eliminates the need to assemble or connect multiple parts,\u201d Moin continues. \u201cIt also means we can modify the print if needed, rather than being restricted to a certain mold, so we can take findings from our tests and adapt our engines easily. It also takes far less time to produce an engine using 3D printing; it would take around six months to produce an engine using conventional methods whereas we can print one in just three days, or nine days for much larger models. 3D printing also speeds up the qualification process, which typically takes around three months, but our 3D printing machines automatically generate a qualification report that immediately informs us that the engine has been produced according to specific standards. This means we can take the rocket engine off the 3D printer and connect it to the test bed or directly to the rocket straight away.\u201d<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Powered by Agnikul\u2019s single-piece 3D printed engine, Agnibaan is a fully indigenous, orbital-class launch vehicle designed to deliver small satellites to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) on demand. Agnibaan SOrTeD, on the other hand, is a sub-orbital launch vehicle designed for low-altitude missions. Initially developed as a technology demonstrator, the vehicle is now a standalone product capable of carrying payloads of up to 30 kilograms, offering a reliable way to reach near-space environments for experimentation and validation purposes. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"an](\"https:\/\/manufacturing-today.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/02\/Agnikul-244-body-image-1.jpg\")
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