The Technology Business Incubator (TBI) at the Hyderabad campus of BITS Pilani said it is incubating Abyom, a start-up that is working on India’s first reusable rocket.

Recognised by DPIIT, Abyom’s mandate is to build liquid propulsion rocket engine and testing system. “Liquid propulsion rocket engines are widely used on space launch vehicles in comparison to solid phase propulsion engines and other engine types such as hypergolic engines and liquid hybrid engines,” a TBI spokesperson said.

This technology will be used to build the country‘s first ‘reusable sounding rocket’, which will be very useful for those working in areas such as meteorology and agritech data.

New opportunities

Prashant Sinha, Head of the TBI, said that the use of reusable rockets would help reduce space debris and cost of space missions.

“The creation of this engine and testing system will create new opportunities for space science,” he said.

“Our experience comes from college years when a variety of prototypes and tests such as static solid motor tests, parachute ejection tests were conducted and rockets were launched in the USA for the Space Port America Cup to a height of 10,000 ft,” Jainul Abedin, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Abyom, said.

G Sundar, Director of BITS Pilani Hyderabad, said that the campus had good infrastructure, including additive manufacturing, high performance computing for simulation, petrochemical labs and remote engineering labs. “We also have collaborations with national and international organisations, which will help the start-up in designing and development of the idea into a proof-of-concept state,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.

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