Astrobase Unveils 'EVEREST', India's First Private 800 kN Full-Flow Staged Combustion Rocket Engine

12 August 2026National

Astrobase Space Technologies Pvt Ltd unveiled 'EVEREST', India's first privately developed 800 kilonewton (kN) Full-Flow Staged Combustion (FFSC) rocket engine, in Bengaluru, Karnataka. It is designed for reusable medium-lift launch vehicles and advanced orbital missions. EVEREST is a Liquid Oxygen (LOX)-Methane engine delivering 800 kN thrust, 50%-110% throttle, roughly 340 seconds specific impulse, and supports multiple restarts. Astrobase completed sub-scale and turbopump tests in 2025-26, plans around 20 engines, and targets full-scale hot-fire testing in 2026, with its first launch targeted for December 2028. Founded in 2024 and led by CEO Neeraj Khandelwal, the startup was selected under the Technology Adoption Fund (TAF) in June 2026.

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FFSC is among the most complex engine architectures; also used by SpaceX's Raptor engine | Propellant: Liquid Oxygen (LOX)-Methane | India's space-sector promoter/regulator: IN-SPACe | ISRO Headquarters: Bengaluru

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Astrobase Space Technologies unveiled 'EVEREST', India's first privately built 800 kN Full-Flow Staged Combustion (FFSC) LOX-methane rocket engine, in Bengaluru.

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