Skyroot eyes history; India’s first private rocket to be launched on Friday

Skyroot Aerospace is set to become the first private space company in India to launch a rocket into space.

Hyderabad: Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace will launch India’s first privately developed rocket on Friday.

Industries and IT Minister KT Rama Rao wished the startup success. “Good luck to Team Skyroot. We are all rooting for you,” Rama Rao said in a reply to a tweet by the company.

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“Mission set. Happy to announce the authorization received from IN-SPACe yesterday for 18 November ’22, 11:30 AM, after final checks on readiness and weather,” the company had tweeted.

The company made the country’s first privately developed rocket, Vikram-S. The maiden mission of Skyroot Aerospace, named ‘Prarambh’ (the beginning), will carry eight customer payloads belonging to Space Kidz India, Bazoomq Armenia and N-Space Tech India. It will be launched from the Indian Space Research Organisation’s launchpad at Sriharikota.

With the groundwork starting in late 2020, Vikram-S has been developed in a record time of two years. Vikram-S is powered by the solid fuelled propulsion, cutting edge avionics and all-carbon fibre core structure. Vikram-S will help test and validate the majority of the technologies in the Vikram series of orbital class space launch vehicles, including many sub-systems and technologies that will be tested across pre lift-off and post lift-off phases of the launch. It is one of the world’s first few all composite space launch vehicles and has 3D printed solid thrusters for spin stability.

With this, Skyroot Aerospace is set to become the first private space company in India to launch a rocket into space. The space sector was opened up in 2020 to facilitate private sector participation.

Skyroot’s launch vehicles are named ‘Vikram’ as a tribute to the founder of the Indian space programme and renowned scientist Vikram Sarabhai. Based in Hyderabad, Skyroot builds launch vehicles for launching commercial satellites to space.

Skyroot Aerospace successfully raised $51 million or Rs 403 crore through a Series-B financing round, in September this year. Led by the Singapore-headquartered long-term investment firm GIC, this makes it the largest funding round ever in India’s space technology sector by far.