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B’luru startup SpaceFields Hot-tests India’s first AeroSpike rocket engine

SpaceFields, incubated at IISc, has successfully tested India's first AeroSpike Rocket Engine at its Challakere facility. The engine achieved a peak thrust of 2000N and featured altitude compensation for optimal efficiency. Supported by funding from Startup India Seed Fund, Boeing India, and state governments, this marks a significant advancement in space technology.
B’luru startup SpaceFields Hot-tests India’s first AeroSpike rocket engine
BENGALURU: IISc-incubated space startup SpaceFields has successfully conducted a hot-fire test of the country’s first AeroSpike Rocket Engine. The static-test campaign for the 168mm rocket motor took place at the company’s Propulsion test facility, located at the Indian Institute of Science’s (IISc) Challakere campus, some 200km from Bengaluru.
“The test demonstrated impressive results, with the engine achieving a maximum recorded pressure of 11 bar and a peak thrust of 2000N.
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The total impulse generated during the test reached 54,485.9 Ns, utilising an HTPB-based composite propellant,” Apurwa Masook, co-founder and CEO, told TOI.
SpaceFields has chosen Titanium grade 5 (Ti-6Al-4V) as the primary material for constructing the engine, citing its superior strength-to-weight ratio compared to conventional materials like Inconel or steel. This choice allows for significant weight reduction while maintaining the structural integrity needed to withstand the extreme pressures and thrust generated during operation.
“A key innovation in the engine’s design is the use of a patent-pending GFRP-based ablative thermal insulation to protect the aerospike’s surface. This composite insulation liner undergoes pyrolysis above 1400K and has been tested to withstand temperatures up to 3000K,” the firm said.
The AeroSpike design offers a unique advantage over traditional bell nozzles: altitude compensation. This feature allows for optimum efficiency across various pressure regimes, potentially leading to reduced staging and fuel requirements for orbital missions. SpaceFields is also exploring ways to incorporate thrust vectoring into the aerospike engine, further enhancing its capabilities.
This successful test marks a milestone in space technology development, potentially paving the way for more efficient and cost-effective space launch systems in the future.
SpaceFields, which has received funding from Startup India Seed Fund, and additional grant support from Boeing India, Govt of Karnataka and Govt of Odisha, in Feb raised $800,000 (Rs 6.5crore), which was earmarked for development and testing of critical hardware and various subsystems, R&D in energetic materials and expanding the company’s team.
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Chethan Kumar

As a young democracy grows out of adolescence, its rolling out reels and reels of tales. If the first post office or a telephone connection paints one colour, the Stamp of a stock market scam or the ‘Jewel Thieves’ scandal paint yet another colour. If failure of a sounding rocket was a stepping stone, sending 104 satellites in one go was a podium. If farmer suicides are a bad climax, growing number of Unicorns are a grand entry. Chethan Kumar, Senior Assistant Editor, The Times of India, who alternates between the mundane goings-on of the hoi polloi and the wonder-filled worlds of scientists and scamsters, politicians and Jawans, feels: There’s always a story, one just has to find it.

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