Sounding rocket test-fired at Dholera

Ahmedabad: A lift-off, a trail of smoke and history was made. On Saturday afternoon, seven relentless months of hard work by the team at OmSpace Rocket and Exploration (OSRE) paid off when a 4.2m sounding rocket soared high at Bavaliyari near Dholera. This feat makes OSRE the first entity to fly a rocket from Gujarat's soil. The single-stage sub-orbital rocket achieved its target height of 3km in a matter of seconds before making a safe landing with a dual-parachute recovery system around 4km from site following its predicted path. The launch is also a first for the region.State science and technology minister Arjun Modhwadia was in attendance along with other senior officials as the historic sounding rocket soared, and the team erupted in celebration. Experts say OSRE is one of the handful startups in India working in the domain of launch vehicles and successfully launching a sounding rocket.Ravindra Raj, CEO and founder, OSRE told TOI that at the heart of the success is the Make in India story. The team validated indigenously developed technologies including a 3D-printed torch igniter, sugar-based solid propellant motor, carbon fibre and advanced composites-based airframe and launchpad."The launch successfully validated critical technologies including propulsion integrity, avionics performance, and autonomous recovery systems. All research and development and manufacturing of parts was done in Ahmedabad. We intend to test another sounding rocket in Aug-Sep this year," he said."For the launch, we took permissions from IN-SPACe, Indian Coast Guard, Dholera Industrial City Development Ltd, district collector and SP offices, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, among others. A timely support by all will also pave way for the other startups working in this domain," said a senior OmSpace official.The team said that they were stationed at the site for three days to understand local conditions, coordinating with govt agencies, and checking the hardware and software till the last moment. A makeshift launchpad was installed in the open space near the village. According to experts, India's space journey too started with launching sounding rockets in the early 1960s. These rockets are small, cost-effective, and launched with the purpose of testing technologies for larger projects. Such rockets also give the team an idea about how the software, launch, recovery etc function so that course-correction can be done from the initial phase, they say."With rapid developments in both hardware and software, this is a new era for space startups. Several firms in Ahmedabad and the state have made major strides in technology development, raising funds, and capabilities," said the head of an incubation centre in Ahmedabad. He added, "PierSight has already raised millions and has also sent its payload successfully to space. Several others have demonstrated successful prototypes, as many are helmed by Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) in Ahmedabad." What's next? Raj said, "We are in the process of developing larger, orbital-class reusable launch vehicle, Infinity One. The data gathered from today's flight will be integral to scaling up operations and moving towards commercial missions."