Skyroot Aerospace to become first private rocket maker to fly its rocket

Chennai, Nov 8: India’s private sector rocket maker Skyroot Aerospace will fly its rocket Vikram-S with three payloads between November 12 and 16 from ISRO’s rocket port Sriharikota, the company said.

“The Vikram-S rocket getting launched is a single-stage sub-orbital launch vehicle which would carry three customer payloads and help test and validate majority of the technologies in the Vikram series of space launch vehicles. We are utilising the world-class launch infrastructure at ISRO’s spaceport in Sriharikota for the launch,” said Naga Bharath Daka, COO and Co-Founder of Skyroot Aerospace.

The Hyderabad based rocket start-up has named the mission as ‘Prarambh’ meaning “the beginning”, signifying a new era for the private space sector.

According to Skyroot Aerospace, the company’s first mission was unveiled by Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Chairman Dr S.Somanath in Bengaluru on November 7,2022 after the technical launch clearance from the Space regulator IN-SPACe.

“A launch window between November 12 and 16 has been notified by authorities, the final date being confirmed based on weather conditions,” Skyroot Aerospace said in a statement.

With this maiden mission, Skyroot Aerospace is set to become the first private space company in India to launch a rocket into space, heralding a new era for the space sector which was recently opened up to facilitate private sector participation, the company said.

“We could build and get our Vikram-S rocket mission-ready in such a short time only because of the invaluable support we received from ISRO and IN-SPACe, and the technology talent that we inherently possess,” said Pawan Kumar Chandana, CEO and Co-Founder.

Skyroot Aerospace’s launch vehicles are named ‘Vikram’ as a tribute to the founder of the Indian Space programme and renowned scientist Dr Vikram Sarabhai.

However, Skyroot Aerospace is silent on the names of the customers whose satellites the rocket will be carrying.

When queried about the insurance for the rocket Chandana told IANS that it has been taken care off but declined to share more details.