New Delhi: Hyderabad-based New Space startup Abyom SpaceTech and Defence has officially opened its commercial space infrastructure test facility. The facility is designed for scalability, and can accommodate propulsion systems built by students at academic institutions as well as high-thrust industrial technology demonstrators. Abyom has opened up its commercial test facility to external partners, and is one of the first private entities in South Asia to offer dedicated propulsion systems qualification and verification services. The first commercial test campaign was for the Rocket Team of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.
The IIT-B Rocket Team validated an M-class solid rocket motor through the test campaign. The propulsion, structures and control-system engineers from Abyom worked closely with the Rocket Team over a period of two months to ensure that the motor configuration complied with the operational and safety standards of the commercial test facility. The test stand, flame detector, and sensor interfaces were modified to support testing campaigns for solid propulsion motors. The campaign was fully compliant with industrial test standards. In-house technology developed by Abyom was used for the test campaign.
Most of Abyom’s tech is dual use
During the test campaign, Abyom used its proprietary Engine Control System (ECS) and Data Acquisition (DAQ) modules to capture high-fidelity thrust and chamber-pressure data in realtime. This ECS is a modular platform that can be used in rockets, missiles and advanced propulsion systems. The ECS is a dual-use technology with bost civilian and strategic applications, like most of Abyom’s hardware, including the commercial test facility itself. The test campaign provided valuable inputs for Abyom that plans to test fully reusable cryogenic rocket engines next, which will advance the development of reusable rockets. Abyom is aiming to demonstrate a vertical takeoff vertical landing (VTVL) prototype next year. Abyom celebrated its fifth foundation day in October.