Agnikul’s single-stage tech demo rocket launch put on hold | India News

BENGALURU:

Agnikul

Cosmos, a spacetech startup, which hoped to make history with the inaugural test launch of its single-stage technology demonstrator rocket — a precursor for its

Agnibaan launch vehicle

— powered by a

semi-cryogenic engine

Agnilet, put the launch on “hold” just minutes before lift off on Tuesday.
The company as of 6.12am was yet to officially call off the launch, but live coverage to the Agnibaan’s “SubOrbital Technological Demonstrator or SOrTeD” mission had been stopped.

Teams are looking into anomalies that prompted the firm to put the launch on hold.
The IIT-incubated startup had, earlier this year, scheduled SOrTeD for an April 7 launch, but was forced to postpone due to technical glitches just 129 seconds before lift-off.
“Had to call off today’s launch attempt of Agnibaan SOrTeD just a second into Automated Launch Sequence (ALS) initiation because of a communication issue between two of our onboard hardware. Although it is frustrating to see a HOLD this close to lift off, we are glad that our ALS did its job,” the firm had said on the day.