The launch was conducted on August 21 at a foreign location, and the results of the flight were evaluated by the company in the wee hours of August 23

DroneAcharya plans to increase the altitude to 10 kms and payload by 3X to collect atmospheric and meteorological data

Close on the heels of Chandrayaan-3’s historic landing on the Moon, drone manufacturer DroneAcharya on Wednesday (August 23) also announced its foray into the spacetech industry.

In a press statement, the company said it successfully tested a reusable rocket launch vehicle, which attained an ‘altitude of 3 kms over the ground surface’.

Speaking with Inc42, DroneAcharya’s founder and managing director Prateek Srivastava said that the launch was conducted on August 21 at a foreign location. The results of the flight were evaluated by the company in the wee hours of August 23.

“This spacetech initiative by DroneAcharya directly compliments our existing drone tech solutions as the former correlates with the macro solutions of overall climatic studies while the latter deals with drone-based Imagery and on-ground situational studies,” said Srivastava.

Equipped within the launch vehicle were an air pressure sensor, a heat sensor, an internal combustion sensor, an air friction sensor, and a miniature parachute for onboard equipment recovery. The company claimed that it successfully landed the vehicle with the help of a parachute and was able to recover all vital sensors and equipment.

As per the company, the objective of the test was to determine the burn rate of the solid propellant fuel between attaining an altitude of 3 kms and returning to the ground in ‘operational condition’.

Srivastava also told Inc42 that the company has been experimenting with the project for the past three months and ran simulations and trials before the test launch. He added that the company took help from a couple of ISRO employees, who helped formulate the test launch.