Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace created history on Saturday with the successful launch of Vikram-1, India’s first privately developed orbital launch vehicle. The mission, named Mission Aagaman, lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
Market Context
Skyroot Aerospace wrote on X, “Hello space, we have arrived! Vikram-1’s Test Flight-1 has completed it’s mission. The first ever Indian private sector launch has been successfully completed.”
Besides satellites, the rocket also carried a handwritten postcard from Prime Minister Narendra Modi bearing the message “Vande Mataram”, along with postcards from engineers, scientists and Indian astronauts, PTI reported.
Vikram-1 is the entry of India’s private space sector into the orbital launch market and is being seen as a major milestone in the country’s commercial space ambitions.
It is also the first major demonstration of the government’s space-sector reforms under the Indian Space Policy 2023, which opened the entire space value chain to private participation.
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Mission Aagaman is the maiden flight of Vikram-1 and it lifted off from the first launch pad at ISRO’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, at 12:05.
Competitor Comparison
Ahead of the launch, Modi described Vikram-1 as “a historic new frontier for India’s space journey.”
Vikram-1 is an orbital launch vehicle developed by Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace. Unlike suborbital rockets, it is designed to place satellites into stable Earth orbit, enabling applications such as communications, navigation, Earth observation and scientific research, as per Skyroot website.
Vikram-1 is India’s first privately developed orbital rocket, making Skyroot the first Indian private company to attempt an orbital satellite launch.
ALSO READ | PM Modi wishes Skyroot success ahead of Vikram-1’s first orbital launch: ‘A historic new frontier for India’
Future Forecast
The mission deployed multiple customer payloads into a 450-km Low Earth Orbit while collecting engineering data that will be used to validate the rocket’s guidance, navigation and control systems. The data also will help refine the vehicle for future commercial satellite launch missions.
The rocket has deployed multiple domestic and international technology demonstration payloads –
Vikram-1 is Skyroot’s second rocket. Its predecessor, Vikram-S, successfully flew on a suborbital mission in November 2022, becoming the first privately built rocket launched from an ISRO facility in Sriharikota.
While Vikram-S was a technology demonstration mission, Vikram-1 is designed to place satellites into orbit, representing a far more advanced capability.
The Vikram series is named after Dr Vikram Sarabhai, regarded as the father of India’s space programme, in recognition of his pioneering contributions to the country’s space efforts.
