Hyderabad's Abyom SpaceTech Gets an Indian Patent for Its Mobile Rocket-Engine Test Facility

Hyderabad-based Abyom SpaceTech & Defence has been granted Indian Patent No. 600565 for an invention titled "Device and Method for Rocket Engines Test Facility." The start-up announced the grant on October 19, 2026, and it was reported by Deccan Chronicle and Raksha Anirveda.

The patent covers how rocket engines are tested, not a rocket itself. The reports are explicit that it protects the test facility and testing method, and does not mean a flight-ready launch vehicle has been built or deployed. For a young propulsion company, though, owning the infrastructure to fire engines quickly and repeatedly is a real advantage.

The company

Abyom was founded in 2020 by Jainul Abedin, then 19, who is its founder and CEO. The start-up is incubated at BITS Pilani's Hyderabad campus and works on reusable liquid-propellant propulsion and on the test infrastructure needed to develop it.

Its engine work so far has centred on two prototypes:

• BSE-I, a 1.5 kN liquid rocket engine, and
• BSE-II, a 2.5 kN engine.

The company says it has carried out more than 250 hot-fire tests of the two engines at its mobile test facility in Hyderabad.

In May 2026, Abyom said it had completed what it described as India's first in-house reusable liquid rocket engine qualification test campaign, conducted at its Commercial Test Facility (CTF) in Shamirpet, Medchal-Malkajgiri district, near Hyderabad. The engines feed into its Flight Ready Engine (FRE) and HOPE (Highly Optimised Propulsion Engineering) vehicle programmes, which involve vertical take-off and vertical landing technology.

Why test infrastructure matters

Every launch vehicle depends on hundreds of engine firings before it flies. Engineers need to measure thrust, chamber pressure, temperatures and propellant flow, and confirm that an engine can be restarted and reused without damage. In India, the large, well-instrumented test stands have mostly sat with ISRO, at sites such as the ISRO Propulsion Complex at Mahendragiri.

Private launch companies have therefore had to wait for access to government facilities or build their own. Abyom's answer is a modular, mobile, plug-and-play setup. The company first disclosed a patent filing for it in 2025, and says the facility can also be used by other rocketry teams and start-ups to test components, including solid rocket motors.

That makes the patent commercially meaningful. A protected design for a cheaper, portable test rig could become a service business alongside Abyom's own engine development.

Part of a wider build-out

Abyom's announcement came in a busy week for Indian propulsion testing. Days earlier, EtherealX opened The Anchorage, a large engine test complex near Sriharikota. Earlier in October, ISRO ignited the full-scale gas generator of its LME-1100 methane engine at Mahendragiri.

Together, these steps show India's private space sector adding the ground infrastructure that launch vehicles depend on, not just the rockets.

The caveats

Abyom's engines are small, in the low single-digit kilonewton range, and far from the thrust needed for an orbital launcher. Its test counts and qualification claims are company statements that have not been independently verified. The company has also opened a $2.5 million funding round to scale operations and expand its test facilities, so its next steps depend on raising that money.

Still, for a five-year-old student-founded start-up, a granted patent, a working test facility and a few hundred engine firings make a credible foundation.

What to watch

The next milestones are the close of Abyom's $2.5 million round, progress from the BSE-series prototypes towards its Flight Ready Engine, and whether other start-ups and student teams start renting time on its test facility. Paying outside customers would show that the patented design has commercial value beyond Abyom's own engine programme.

Sources

• Deccan Chronicle — https://www.deccanchronicle.com/southern-states/telangana/hyderabad-startup-gets-patent-for-rocket-engine-testing-technology-1997230
• Raksha Anirveda — https://raksha-anirveda.com/hyderabad-startup-secures-patent-for-rocket-engine-test-technology/
• Telangana Today (qualification campaign) — https://telanganatoday.com/hyderabad-startup-abyom-completes-indias-first-in-house-reusable-rocket-engine-test
• Telangana Today (250 hot-fire tests) — https://telanganatoday.com/bits-pilani-incubated-startup-abyom-hits-milestone-conducts-250-hot-fire-tests-on-rocket-engines-in-hyderabad
• YourStory — https://yourstory.com/2025/11/hyderabad-startup-abyom-spacetech-and-defences-reusable-rockets-launch-facility
• Startuppedia (BSE-II test) — https://startuppedia.in/trending/hyderabad-based-spacetech-startup-successfully-tests-its-bse-ii-engine-for-hope-highly-optimised-propulsion-engineering-vehicle-11279263