Launch
Othisis Systems
Bengaluru startup building a reusable landing rocket; it hot-fired a 3D-printed 5 kN liquid-oxygen and methane cryogenic engine in August 2026 after three failed ignitions.
Othisis Systems is a Bengaluru rocketry startup working towards a fully reusable, vertically landing launch vehicle. Its own account traces the company to a Discord server started in June 2023 that grew into an amateur rocketry community it calls Rocketry India, and says it incorporated as a private limited company in March 2024 while its members were still in college. Startup Pedia instead dates the founding to 2023 and describes founder Syed Affan, self-taught in propulsion engineering and electronics, as building the company alongside his undergraduate degree. The address published on the company site is at Harohalli village in Hoskote taluk on the eastern edge of Bengaluru. The site states an aim to revolutionise space tech development in India by crafting indigenous high-powered rockets, and lists Rainmatter, Makerville, Altium, Fraktal Works, PCBWay, GS Solar, Altair and Maker's Asylum among its partners.
The published project history starts with solid-fuel amateur rockets rather than orbital hardware, and every figure in it comes from the company's own pages; no independent measurement has been published. Jericho, an I-class rocket flown in December 2023, was aimed at 1 km and reached 850.66 m at Mach 0.536 on that account. The L-class motor that followed, MONU v1, failed on test in April 2024 when its graphite nozzle cracked, which Othisis attributes to faulty manufacturing; the reworked MONU v2 delivered 4000 Ns of total impulse over a 1.9-second burn. In December 2024 the SONUS testbed combined that propulsion with the team's own ESP32-based FONU flight computer and reached 1.83 km. The company site gives conflicting target apogees for that flight.
The August 2026 hot-fire is the first cryogenic firing Othisis has disclosed. Startup Pedia and Indian Defence News describe a fully 3D-printed, regeneratively cooled engine burning liquid oxygen and methane, rated at 5 kN of nominal thrust at 35 bar chamber pressure and fitted with a modular pintle injector whose element can be swapped to change thrust level, and report 100 kN·s of total impulse. The team reached that result after more than 20 test cycles and three failed ignition attempts, having built the propellant feed system, cryogenic-rated valving and its own control and data-acquisition electronics on an empty plot at Whitefield in roughly three months. No test trace, burn duration or independent measurement has been published.
Othisis says the engine is intended for a vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing hopper, to be followed by hop tests and then an orbital-class reusable vehicle aimed at small and medium satellites and commercial payloads. Startup Pedia reports the company has signed memoranda of understanding to carry payloads and is onboarded with IN-SPACe, the body that authorises private Indian space activity. The schedule has slipped: a PCBWay sponsorship page written by Affan targeted a static fire of a nitrous-oxide and isopropyl-alcohol engine in the summer of 2025 and a launch and landing of the reusable rocket around Christmas 2025; the cryogenic hot-fire came only in August 2026.
What they build and operate
- 5 kN cryogenic engine · Engine · In development
Fully 3D-printed, regeneratively cooled liquid-oxygen and methane engine rated at 5 kN nominal thrust at 35 bar chamber pressure; hot-fired in August 2026 with a reported 100 kN·s of total impulse.[1][2][3] - Reusable VTVL hopper · Launch vehicle · In development
Vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing test rocket the cryogenic engine is meant to fly; hop tests are described as coming later in 2026, having earlier been targeted for around Christmas 2025.[1][2][7] - MONU solid rocket motors · Engine
Aluminium-cased amateur motors on KNDX propellant; according to the company's projects page MONU v1 lost its graphite nozzle on test in April 2024 and MONU v2 delivered 4000 Ns over a 1.9-second burn.[6] - FONU flight computer · Component
In-house ESP32-based avionics board carrying a barometer, an IMU, a GPS module, SD-card logging and LoRa telemetry, flown on the SONUS rocket, according to the company's projects page.[6] - SONUS · Launch vehicle
Subsystem-validation rocket flown in December 2024 with the MONU propulsion system and the FONU flight computer; according to the company's projects page it reached 1.83 km.[6]
Milestones
- June 2023
Before founding the company, the team started the Discord rocketry server that Othisis says grew into the Rocketry India amateur community.[5][4] - December 2023
Prior to incorporation, the team flew Jericho, an I-class high-power rocket, to what the company's projects page records as 850.66 m at Mach 0.536 against a 1 km target apogee.[6] - March 2024
Incorporated as a private limited company after operating as a volunteer community.[5][7] - April 2024
MONU v1 solid motor test failed when the graphite nozzle cracked, which the company attributes to faulty manufacturing.[6] - May 2024
MONU v2 solid motor delivered 4000 Ns of total impulse over a 1.9-second burn, according to the company's projects page.[6] - December 2024
SONUS testbed flew with the MONU motor and FONU flight computer and reached 1.83 km on the company's own telemetry.[6][5] - August 2026
Hot-fired the 3D-printed 5 kN liquid-oxygen and methane cryogenic engine after three failed ignition attempts.[1][2][3]
Facilities
- Whitefield test site · Whitefield, Bengaluru, Karnataka
Engine test facility built from an empty plot in roughly three months, with the propellant feed system, cryogenic-rated valving and in-house control and data-acquisition electronics.[1][3] - Registered office · Harohalli village, Muthsandra post, Anugondnahalli hobli, Hoskote taluk, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560087
Address the company publishes on its own site.[4]
Leadership
Sources
Startup PediaBengaluru's Othisis has hot-fired its cryogenic rocket engine that runs on liq oxygen & methane propellantstartuppedia.in
Indian Defence NewsBangalore Start-Up Othisis Successfully Hot-Fires 5 kN Cryogenic 3D-Printed Rocket Engine For Reusable Hopper Rocketindiandefensenews.in
Indian Defence NewsBangalore Start-Up Othisis Successfully Hot-Fires Regeneratively Cooled Cryogenic 3D-Printed Rocket Engine For Reusable Launch Programindiandefensenews.in
Othisis SystemsHome | Othisis Systems | Indian Aerospace Organisationothisissystems.com
Othisis SystemsAbout Usothisissystems.com
Othisis SystemsProjectsothisissystems.com
PCBWayMaking india's first fully reusable rocketpcbway.com
Coverage of Othisis Systems
Launch
Othisis publishes 3D-printed cryogenic engine hot-fire results
The Bengaluru startup now calls the liquid-oxygen/methane unit a nominal 5 kN engine after earlier reporting 4.5 kN, while test data and a reusable-vehicle demonstration remain undisclosed.
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