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India Launches Its First Private Orbital Rocket
Skyroot Aerospace has launched India’s first private orbital rocket, a milestone for the country’s commercial space industry.
Image: iXBT
Skyroot Aerospace has completed India’s first launch attempt to place a payload into orbit using a fully private launch vehicle. The company’s Vikram-1 rocket lifted off on July 18 from the First Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, carrying out the Aagaman test mission. All four stages performed according to the flight plan.
Vikram-1 carried six demonstration payloads designed to validate onboard systems and collect flight data ahead of commercial operations. The successful mission marks the first launch of a private orbital rocket in India’s history, following the country’s decision to open its space sector to commercial companies in 2020.
Skyroot now plans to enter the global small-satellite launch market, where demand is growing for fast, tailored delivery of spacecraft to low Earth orbit. The company has also become the first Indian space startup to achieve unicorn status.
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Vikram-1 is designed to carry up to 300 kilograms of payload to low Earth orbit. Skyroot CEO Pavan Kumar Chandana said the first flight was intended to confirm the results of ground testing and gather the data needed to move toward regular launches.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the launch a historic event for the country’s private space industry and congratulated the Skyroot team on the successful mission.
Frontier Editor
Dan is our resident futurist, covering electric mobility, space exploration, and the smart home. He's interested in atoms just as much as bits. Whether it's a new battery chemistry, a reusable rocket, or a protocol that finally makes IoT devices talk to each other, Dan breaks down the engineering that pushes humanity forward.
via iXBT
