Astrobase Space Technologies

Space · Aerospace · Deep Tech

Launch

Astrobase unveils EVEREST, India's first private FFSC rocket engine

Only SpaceX's Raptor has flown this exact engine cycle, and Astrobase hasn't even hot-fired its version yet.

• Bengaluru-based Astrobase Space Technologies unveiled EVEREST, an 800 kN Full-Flow Staged Combustion (FFSC) LOX-methane rocket engine, on August 7, 2026.
• Astrobase is building the full launch industrial chain in-house, from engine manufacturing and high-flow testing to stage integration and orbital launch operations.
• FFSC routes both propellants through separate fuel-rich and oxidiser-rich preburners so no propellant used to drive the turbopumps is wasted, making it the most efficient known chemical rocket cycle.
• EVEREST delivers a specific impulse of about 340 seconds and throttles between 50% and 110%, with the engine still awaiting its first hot-fire test.
• Astrobase is targeting first flight of its reusable launch vehicle in December 2028, with a hot-fire campaign for EVEREST starting in the coming months, and plans to manufacture up to 50 engines a year.
• The unveiling follows India's private sector recently launching Vikram-1, the country's first privately developed orbital rocket, and makes India the fourth nation with FFSC engine technology after Russia, the U.S. and China.
• Mastering FFSC, an architecture only SpaceX has flown in Raptor, would give India domestic access to the propulsion tech underpinning next-generation reusable rockets rather than relying on foreign systems.