Watch: Skyroot Aerospace Successfully Test-Fires India's First Privately Built Fully Cryogenic Engine 'Dhawan-1'

Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace on Thursday (25 November) announced that it has successfully tested India's first privately built fully cryogenic engine 'Dhawan-1'.

The engine, which has been named in honour of eminent Indian Rocket scientist Dr Satish Dhawan, uses Liquid Natural Gas (more than 90 per cent Methane) and Liquid Oxygen cryogenic propellants, which are high performance, low-cost, and green.

According to the company, this engine has a vacuum thrust of around 1.5 kilonewton (k)N and demonstrates upper stage technology of the firm's orbital vehicle Vikram-2.

The mobile test stand was indigenously developed by Skyroot and test firing was conducted in one of its kind facility of Solar Industries at Nagpur, the company said.

The cryogenic engines are highly efficient rocket propulsion systems that use propellants at cryogenic temperatures (less than minus 150 degree Celsius).

Skyroot Aerospace started India’s first private project to develop a small fully cryogenic engine with fabrication of a prototype engine to be used as a technology demonstrator in September 2020.