India enters elite rocket-engine club as Astrobase unveils 800 kN FFSC engine

India’s private space sector has taken a step into a small global league of countries developing advanced Full-Flow Staged Combustion (FFSC) propulsion, with Bengaluru-based Astrobase Space Technologies unveiling an 800 kN-class rocket engine on Friday.

The development marks a significant shift for India’s private space industry, which is now moving beyond small satellite launch systems into high-thrust propulsion technologies that underpin reusable orbital-class rockets.

According to Astrobase, the engine, named Everest, is India’s first privately developed high-thrust Full-Flow Staged Combustion (FFSC) engine and will power its planned reusable medium-lift launch vehicle. The company is targeting the vehicle’s first orbital flight by December 2028, followed by commercial operations around the same time.

However, Everest is still at a pre-test stage. Astrobase has not yet conducted hot-fire trials, but the company said it expects to begin hot-fire testing in the next few months. Before it can power any orbital mission, the engine will need to clear a longer qualification pathway, including repeated ground tests, performance validation and full vehicle integration.

Astrobase says Everest is part of a broader push to build domestic capability in reusable rocket propulsion and high-cadence launch systems.

‘A second pole in the global space equation’

Astrobase CEO Neeraj Khandelwal said the company’s ambition is to position India as a serious alternative in a launch market currently dominated by a few players.

“Astrobase is building a reusable launch vehicle system from India. We have developed a full-flow staged combustion engine, 80-ton thrust class. Only the fourth company in the world to fully design, manufacture and integrate such a complex engine,” he told Firstpost.

He added that global launch capacity is heavily concentrated.

“Launch is a bottleneck and a choke point of the space orbital infrastructure. The entire launch capability is concentrated in the US and China. Outside China, India is the only country with a huge talent base. What Astrobase is doing is leveraging that to build a second pole in the global space equation,” Khandelwal said.

What makes Everest significant

Rocket propulsion sits at the most complex end of aerospace engineering, and FFSC is widely regarded as one of the most technically demanding engine cycles in the field.

In an FFSC system, both fuel and oxidiser are fully gasified before entering the combustion chamber. This improves efficiency and thermal management of turbomachinery, making it particularly suitable for reusable launch vehicles.

Everest uses liquid oxygen and methane as propellants and is designed for a claimed thrust of 800 kN. Astrobase says it is targeting a specific impulse of around 340 seconds, with a throttle range between 50 per cent and 110 per cent.

That throttling capability is critical for controlled ascent and landing profiles in reusable systems.

A rare propulsion class

FFSC engines remain rare globally due to the engineering difficulty involved in simultaneously managing high pressures, temperatures and turbomachinery loads.

So far, the architecture has been pursued only by a handful of national programmes and companies in the United States, Russia and China.

Astrobase claims it is the fourth commercial company globally to develop and manufacture a high-thrust FFSC engine.

“This is the holy grail of rocket engines. It gives one of the highest efficiencies for lifting payloads to orbit,” Khandelwal said. “Even a 10 per cent efficiency improvement can significantly increase payload capacity.”

Astrobase’s ambitions extend beyond propulsion into full launch system development, including manufacturing, testing, and launch operations.

The company is targeting an initial capacity of 100 tonnes of payload to orbit per year, scaling to over 1,000 tonnes annually in later phases.

Khandelwal said the long-term goal is to build a high-frequency launch ecosystem.

“Eventually we want to send 1,000 tons to space. But first we need to build the capability to send 100 tons per annum, and then scale from there,” he said.

Indigenous design

Astrobase says more than 70 per cent of the engine is indigenously developed and manufactured in India, with imports limited to components not yet available domestically, such as certain sensors.

“It is fully designed in-house and manufactured in Bangalore. We only import what is not available in India,” Khandelwal said.

The company is targeting its first orbital launch attempt in December 2028.

“We are planning a very aggressive timeline. First flight in December 2028,” Khandelwal said.

Demand-driven market outlook

Khandelwal said demand for launch services is already strong, but constrained by supply.

“This is a very supply-constrained market. If you have the vehicle, demand is never a problem,” he said.

He declined to disclose Astrobase’s first customer.

The long road ahead

Despite the unveiling, Everest remains at an early, untested stage.

The engine has not yet undergone hot-fire testing, and Astrobase has not announced a testing schedule. The immediate roadmap includes building test infrastructure, conducting repeated firings, completing qualification, and integrating the engine into a full launch vehicle.

Only after that will the company be able to demonstrate orbital capability — and eventually, reusability.

For Astrobase, the December 2028 target now depends on whether Everest can move from an unveiled prototype to a fully tested, flight-qualified propulsion system.