NEW DELHI: India’s private space sector will soon take wings as spacetech startup Skyroot Aerospace is just days ahead from becoming the country’s first private player to launch an orbital-class rocket, fully designed and developed by it, from Indian soil.After sending India’s first private single-stage suborbital rocket Vikram-S at a peak altitude of 89.5 km in 2022, the Hyderabad-based company is all geared up to launch the country’s first orbital launch vehicle, Vikram-1, on Saturday.Vikram-1, named in honour of Dr Vikram Sarabhai, the father of India’s space programme, is scheduled to lift off at 11.30 am from the first launch pad at Sriharikota, Skyroot Aerospace said on Thursday. Built entirely with a lightweight carbon-composite structure, Vikram-1 is powered by three solid-fuel stages and a liquid orbital adjustment module.The launch, as part of ‘Mission Aagaman’, will see Vikram-1 carry technology demonstration payloads from Grahaa Space, Cosmoserve, DCubed and Skyroot’s own SCOPE, along with Cosmos Diamonds’ artwork “Cosmic Bloom” and a micro-art piece. The 18K gold rocket micro-art will carry micro sculptures of Sir C V Raman, Dr Vikram Sarabhai and Dr A P J Abdul Kalam into space. The mission is designed to deploy payloads weighing up to 350 kg into a 450-km low earth orbit (LEO) with a 60-degree inclination.Vikram-1 has been integrated and stacked on the pad, with final integrated vehicle checks completed from Skyroot’s launch control centre. Interface checks with telemetry ground stations and tracking radars have also been finished ahead of the test flight.Skyroot Aerospace founder and CEO Pawan Kumar Chandana said Vikram-1 builds on the company’s first private rocket demonstration conducted in 2022. “This is our first test flight, and we will be getting valuable data from it,” he said. “It is the first rocket to go to orbit that has been completely built with carbon composite. Carbon fibre is five times lighter than the strongest steel, making the rocket lighter and more efficient,” he said.Skyroot co-founder and chief operating officer Naga Bharath Daka said, “We started Skyroot around eight years ago with an aim to build affordable, reliable rockets from India to the world and provide affordable, reliable and on-demand launch access solutions for satellite operators around the world. All our effort and the team’s effort is culminating today in this historic milestone.”
