India's Skyroot launches first privately built orbital rocket

NEW DELHI: Indian space startup Skyroot Aerospace said on Saturday it had launched the country’s first privately developed orbital rocket, marking a significant step in India’s push to expand its role in the global commercial launch market.

The company’s Vikram-1 rocket lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 0635 GMT on its maiden orbital mission, called Mission Aagaman. The launch had originally been scheduled for 0600 GMT but was briefly put on hold before being rescheduled.

Skyroot said the rocket placed its payload into a 450-kilometre orbit around 15 minutes after liftoff. With that, India became the third country to attain orbital launch capability through private enterprise. The mission carried several customer payloads and in-orbit experiments.

In a statement, the company described the launch as successful.

"Mission Aagaman is a grand success,"

Skyroot said, adding that the flight was part of a testing phase before regular operations begin.

"This is a test flight. We will be doing a few of these before we move into routine commercial flights,"

the company said.

Mission objectives and rocket design

Skyroot said the mission was intended to test the rocket’s propulsion, avionics, telemetry, guidance, navigation and control systems during flight, while also collecting data to support future commercial missions.

Standing about 22 metres tall, Vikram-1 is designed to carry payloads of up to 350 kilograms into low-Earth orbit. The launch vehicle uses three solid-fuel stages along with a liquid-fuel orbital adjustment module powered by a 3D-printed engine, which the company says are being flown for the first time in India.

The rocket is carrying a range of experimental and commercial payloads from Indian and overseas organisations, including technology demonstration satellites and in-orbit experiments.

India's private space push

Founded in 2018, Hyderabad-based Skyroot is part of a new wave of Indian space companies that emerged after the sector was opened up to private investment. India liberalised the sector in 2020, allowing startups to build rockets, satellites and launch services, areas that had long been handled by the Indian Space Research Organisation.

Skyroot became the first Indian space-sector company earlier this year to reach a valuation of $1 billion. Its latest mission follows the company’s Vikram-S launch in 2022, which became the first privately developed rocket to reach space from Indian soil on a suborbital flight.

The launch comes as competition intensifies in the small satellite launch business, where startups are trying to challenge established players led by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Governments in Europe and Asia have also increased support for domestic launch firms as demand for independent access to space grows for both commercial and defence purposes.

India’s government is aiming to raise the country’s share of the global space economy to $44 billion by 2033 from about $8 billion at present, betting that private firms will help it compete in a market dominated by the United States, Europe and China.