Hyderabad startup Abyom completes India’s first in-house reusable rocket engine test

Hyderabad-based Abyom SpaceTech and Defence has successfully completed India’s first fully in-house reusable liquid rocket engine qualification test campaign. The milestone strengthens indigenous reusable launch technology, supports defence applications, and advances the company’s reusable rocket and cryogenic engine development programme.

Hyderabad: Abyom SpaceTech and Defence, a Hyderabad-based deep-tech startup building dual-use space and defence technologies, has successfully completed India’s first reusable liquid rocket engine qualification test campaign developed entirely in-house.

Conducted at Abyom’s Commercial Test Facility (CTF), the campaign marks a major milestone toward the company’s Flight Ready Cryogenic Engine (FRE) and HOPE VTVL reusable rocket programme.

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This test has put the deep tech startup among a new generation of SpaceTech companies building indigenous reusable launch capabilities for both civil and strategic applications.

The reusable rocket test marks a major step toward low-cost space launches, strengthens dual-use defence capabilities, reduces reliance on foreign propulsion technology, and lays the groundwork for India’s future orbital and suborbital missions.

“This is not just an engine test- it is a validation of a fully indigenous reusable propulsion ecosystem being built indigenously in India,” Jainul Abedin, Founder and CEO, Abyom SpaceTech and Defence.

The entire testing ecosystem—including engine systems, control architecture, instrumentation, and data acquisition—was developed in-house without reliance on imported infrastructure.

This end-to-end ownership of the test infrastructure – part of Abyom’s patented Commercial Test Facility (CTF) platform allows Abyom to iterate rapidly, maintain proprietary control over its test data and procedures, and offer commercial testing services to external teams and institutions.