Kathmandu, July 19 -- For a few seconds, Nepal's space ambitions burned inside a metal chamber.

During a series of ground tests, a hybrid rocket engine roared to life as sensors measured pressure, combustion and performance. Each firing marked another step in a cycle of designing, testing, studying the data, and returning to the hardware.

A small team of Nepali engineers had done this 55 times. By the end of those tests, they had developed something unprecedented in the country: a hybrid rocket propulsion system designed and built in Nepal.

Now they want to see it fly.

Mach24 Orbitals, a Nepali aerospace startup working with the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology, is preparing a 4.1-metre rocket for a vertical test flight. Weighi...