EtherealX
 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Aerospace |
| Founded | 2022 |
| Founder |
|
| Headquarters | , |
| Products |
|
| Services | Launch vehicles |
| Website | www |
Ethereal Exploration Space and Defence Private Limited is an Indian startup based in Bengaluru which plans to develop fully reusable vertical landing medium-lift space launch system at reduced cost and cut launch timeframes.[1][2] Founded in 2022, the company is currently developing India's largest private rocket engine facility in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.[3] The launch vehicle 'Razor Crest Mk-1' will be able deliver up to eight-tonnes to low earth in fully reusable configuration.[3]
Overview
[edit]The startup is founded by; Manu J Nair (Chief Executive Officer) who was briefly a part of the Gaganyaan, the manned spaceflight program of the Indian space agency, Shubhayu Sardar (Chief Operations Officer) was an aerospace engineer in same who is a graduate of Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology and Prashanth Sharma (Chief Technology Officer) is an aerospace engineer.[1] It has raised US$5 million seed funding.[3][4]
Razor Crest
[edit]The mark-one variant of the launch system features an absolute reusable configuration in which both the booster and the upper stage is recoverable. The recovey of upper stage comes with a crucial issue of fending off reentry heat, the startup intends to develop a new rocket engine cycle along with a deployment system to redirect the heat builtup throughout the reentry phase.This will allow the system to operate efficiently in both atmosphere and vacuum. Thereby the launch system will be able to achieve pinpoint landing compared to the larger target landing zones in case of traditional ballistic reentry.[3]
The rocket will be capable to launch up to 8 tonnes to low earth in fully reusable configuration and almost 24.8 tonnes to low earth in expendable configuration.[1]
EtherealX Stallion
[edit]Once developed, the 'Stallion' as claimed will be the most powerful operational liquid rocket engine outside North America. Powered by RP1/LOX propellent, it will be able to produce a peak thrust of 925 kN. It features gas generator feed cycle and will have a peak specific impulse of 295 seconds in sea level and 330 seconds in vacuum. 'Razor Crust Mk-1' will house nine of this engine.[1]
Launches
[edit]| S.No | Date / time (UTC) | Rocket Configuration |
Launch site | Payload | Orbit | Customer | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Remarks | |||||||
| 1. | NET 2026 | Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (TDV) | TBA | TBA | LEO | TBA | Planned |
| The 35 meters tall and 2.5 meters wide technology demonstrator launch vehicle with a 1.2-ton capacity to 400 km low earth orbit. It will feature same engine type as of full-scale launch vehicle, but in a smaller count. The launch is intended to verify the telemetry data and flight software for its future commercial launches. | |||||||
See also
[edit]- Space industry of India
- Indian Space Research Organisation
- New Space India Limited
- IN–SPACe
- Indian Space Association
- List of private spaceflight companies
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d "EtherealX". EtherealX. Retrieved 2024-08-07.
- ^ PTI (2024-08-06). "Space start up EtherealX raises USD 5 million in seed funding". ThePrint. Retrieved 2024-08-07.
- ^ a b c d Singh, Jagmeet (2024-08-06). "India's EtherealX puts $5M seed toward fully reusable launch vehicles". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2024-08-07.
- ^ "Spacetech startup EtherealX raises $5 million in funding round led by YourNest". The Economic Times. 2024-08-06. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 2024-08-07.