NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday congratulated Skyroot Aerospace team after it successfully carried six payloads, including two satellites, into low-Earth orbit aboard Vikram-1.”Congratulations to Pawan, Bharat and the rest of the team. Your feat will inspire youngsters to come forward. I was watching the entire launch programme today. Your entire Skyroot Aerospace team looks like they are 25-30 years of age,” PM Modi was heard saying during the telephonic exchange.PM Modi conveyed his “grand greetings” to them and said their today’s “Mission Aagaman” (arrival) should proceed further, he wished. Both top officials were present at Isro’s Mission Control Centre (MCC) for the launch.The mission “proves we can be Atmanirbhar,” he said, even as Chandana informed that the rocket was completely designed and made in India.The Prime Minister also sent a postcard bearing ‘Vande Mataram’ aboard Vikram-1, noting to the Skyroot team that the mission coincides with the 150th anniversary of the iconic national song.Referring to PM Modi’s postcard bearing “Vande Mataram”, which the launch vehicle carried to a 450-km low-Earth orbit, Chandana said, “Your card has successfully reached orbit. Vande Mataram is in orbit.”After the exchange, Skyroot Aerospace CEO Pawan Kumar Chandana said, “It is so heartening to hear the Prime Minister talk so highly about Skyroot. This is a historic moment not just for Skyroot, for India and also for entire global space sector. We have achieved something rare and unique. The rocket is 100% built by Indians in India.”The mission marks a major milestone for India’s commercial space sector and opens a new chapter at Sriharikota, 46 years after Isro successfully launched the country’s first satellite launch vehicle, SLV-3, into orbit.The 23-metre-tall, 1.7-metre-diameter launch vehicle lifted off from the First Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, at 12.05 pm as part of Mission Aagaman. The rocket carried the payloads into a 450-km low-Earth orbit at an inclination of about 60 degrees, meeting the mission’s primary objective of validating India’s first privately developed orbital launch vehicle.Built using advanced carbon-composite structures, Vikram-1 is a three-stage solid-fuel launch vehicle equipped with a restartable liquid-fuelled Orbit Adjustment Module (OAM) for precise orbital insertion and deployment of multiple satellites.It is designed to carry up to 350 kg to low-Earth orbit and about 260 kg to Sun-synchronous orbit, targeting the growing global market for dedicated and rideshare launches of small satellites for Earth observation, communication, scientific and technology demonstration missions.Many of the vehicle’s key technologies, including propulsion, avionics, thermal protection systems and composite structures, were first demonstrated during Skyroot’s Vikram-S suborbital mission in 2022.
