Recently Indian private space vehicle company Skyroot Aerospace has tested 3D printed cryogenic engine Dhawan-II for a record 200 seconds for its heavy vehicle Vikram-II.
Dhawan-II is a 3.5 Kilo Newton (kN) engine named after Dr. Satish Dhawan, India’s top rocket scientist.
The newly tested engine is a successor to the fully cryogenic rocket engine Dhawan-I, which has a thrust of 1.0 kN.
The cryogenic rocket engine uses two high-performance rocket fuels, LNG and LoX, which require cryogenic temperatures (below -150° Celsius) for storage and operation.
LNG contains more than 90% methane, and LoX is a clean-burning, environmentally friendly fuel.
This major milestone has been accomplished at the Solar Industries Propulsion Test Facility in Nagpur, Maharashtra using an indigenously developed mobile cryogenic engine test pad.
Earlier in November 2022, Skyroot launched India's first privately developed rocket Vikram-S, which made the firm the first Indian private company to send a rocket into space.
