The Guild unveils 150-acre rocket testing facility near Sriharikota
The Andhra Pradesh campus has commissioned a test facility for the Pegasus upper-stage engine, with its first hot-fire scheduled for November and booster engine testing infrastructure under development.
The campus will support development of Razor Crest Mk-1 (RCM1), a launch vehicle being designed for recovery and reuse of both its booster and upper stage.
BENGALURU: Space technology company Ethereal Exploration Guild, known as The Guild, has unveiled The Anchorage, a 150-acre rocket development and testing facility in Andhra Pradesh to support its reusable medium-lift launch vehicle programme.
The facility is located in Space City, approximately 40 kilometres from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, the company said in a statement on October 16.
The campus will support development of Razor Crest Mk-1 (RCM1), a launch vehicle being designed for recovery and reuse of both its booster and upper stage.
The company has commissioned the Pegasus Horizontal Static Test Facility, which supports component, ignition, thrust-chamber and turbomachinery testing, as well as integrated engine firing. Its pressure-fed testing capability is rated at 210 bar, according to The Guild. The first hot-fire test of the Pegasus engine is scheduled for November 2026.
RCM1’s propulsion system comprises Pegasus, an 80-kilonewton upper-stage engine, and Stallion, a 1.2-meganewton booster engine. Both use semi-cryogenic propulsion.
Pegasus incorporates an internally developed Full-Flow Segregated Cooling Cycle and a dual thrust-chamber architecture intended to address the thermal and operational requirements of upper-stage reuse.
A separate vertical test facility for Stallion is under development. It is planned to accommodate individual engine firings and clustered-engine tests for the rocket’s booster.
The Guild also plans infrastructure for integrated stage qualification, bringing together engines, propellant tanks, feed systems, structures, avionics, controls and flight software for testing before vehicle assembly.
Co-founder and CEO Manu J. Nair said the campus was intended to connect manufacturing, qualification and refurbishment throughout the vehicle’s operational life. Co-founder and CTO Prashanth Sharma said test results would inform engineering decisions and hardware qualification.
Planned manufacturing capabilities include tank fabrication, machining, welding, additive manufacturing and cryogenic flow components. Refurbishment infrastructure is also proposed for inspecting, repairing and requalifying recovered hardware before subsequent flights.
Founded in 2022 and headquartered in Bengaluru, The Guild is developing RCM1 for commercial and government satellite launch requirements.
