Agnikul Cosmos Sets Up India’s First Private Launchpad

India’s first private launchpad and mission control center has been established within the ISRO campus at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota. The launchpad is designed and operated by Chennai-based space-tech startup AgniKul Cosmos. The facility was inaugurated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman and Secretary in the Department of Space, S Somanath, on 25^th November 2022.

Agnikul Cosmos Sets Up India’s First Private Launchpad – Key Points

• The chairman expressed pleasure over the establishment of the first private launchpad in the country and said that India can now travel to space from one more space platform.
• AgniKul co-founder and CEO Srinath Ravichandran said the ability to launch from one’s launchpad while still working with ISRO’s launch operations teams is a privilege granted by the space agency.
• The establishment of the private launchpad marks a significant step in opening the Indian space sector to private players and affirms the commitment of ISRO/DOS to facilitating the same.
• AgniKul, incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT Madras), plans to guide and control its upcoming launches from this facility.
• The system is compliant to support liquid stage-controlled launches, monitor key flight safety parameters by ISRO’s range operations teams during launches and share the data with ISRO’s Mission Control Centre.