A Bengaluru-based firm, Astrobase Space Technologies, recently presented India’s first privately developed 800 kN Full-Flow Staged Combustion LOX-Methane rocket engine called EVEREST. The achievement places India among four nations possessing this technology, following Russia, the United States and China.
FFSC engines rank among the most powerful liquid propulsion systems. In this design, fuel and oxidiser travel through separate pre-burners before reaching the main combustion chamber. The resulting gases drive turbines connected to pumps and are then redirected into the chamber, ensuring complete propellant use rather than expulsion.
Compared with traditional engines, FFSC units route both propellants through dedicated pre-burners. This approach improves turbopump efficiency, delivers higher overall thrust, permits accurate throttling and suits reusable vehicles. When combined with LOX-Methane, the cycle produces cleaner exhaust that reduces maintenance needs.
Although more complex to engineer, FFSC technology supports reliable, high-performance reusable launchers. Astrobase, founded in 2024, views the engine as key to building domestic launch capacity. Only three commercial entities worldwide have reached this stage: SpaceX and Stoke Space in the United States, and Land Space in China. SpaceX’s Raptor remains the sole operational example.
The EVEREST engine marks the first Indian LOX-Methane high-thrust unit and enables future reusable vehicles capable of lifting up to 30 tonnes to low Earth orbit. It was produced with advanced manufacturing, including India’s largest industrial 3D printer.
Development began in 2024. Subsystem tests are complete, with full hot-fire trials scheduled at the company’s Anantapur facility within months. The first flight is planned for December 2028. Astrobase intends to build and test roughly 20 engines beforehand and aims to increase annual production from six to eight units to sixty. The project received support from IN-SPACe’s Technology Adoption Fund.
