The story so far: A Bengaluru-based space company, Astrobase Space Technologies, on Friday (August 7, 2026) unveiled India’s first privately built 800 kN Full-Flow Staged Combustion (FFSC) LOX-Methane rocket engine named EVEREST.
What Happened
Globally only three commercial companies have successfully developed high thrust FFSC engines, which are SpaceX and Stoke Space, both from the United States of America, and Land Space from China. Of these only SpaceX’s Raptor is the only operational FFSC engine as of now. Khandelwal, who founded Astrobase Space Technologies in 2024 with former ISRO scientist Devakumar Thammisetty.
it is widely regarded as an architecture that can support reliable, high-performance and reusable launch vehicles, said Mr While the FFSC cycle is significantly more complex to design and develop than conventional engine cycles. “At Astrobase, we see this as an important technology for building indigenous launch capability and strengthening India’s long-term access to space,” he said.
When will EVEREST power a rocket launcher with satellites onboard?
The Bengaluru-based space company is the first Indian company to develop this engine and the fourth globally. Besides this is the first time an Indian company has built a LOX-Methane high thrust engine which bats for cleaner next-generation launch systems. The company has been selected under the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre’s (IN-SPACe) Technology Adoption Fund for the development of this FFSC rocket engine.
