India’s First-Ever Private Rocket Now In The Skies

Nellore (Andhra Pradesh): A Hyderabad-based start-up, Skyroot Aerospace launched the nation’s first privately manufactured rocket, Vikram-S, into space from the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) spaceport in Sriharikota. It marks a significant step forward for the country’s young private space industry.

At 11.30 am, Vikram-S, named after the country’s space program’s creator, Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The rocket is a Skyroot Aerospace single-stage suborbital space launch vehicle.

The ‘Parambh’ (beginning) mission carried a foreign payload from Bazoomq of Armenia along with two domestic payloads made by Space Kidz India and N-Space Tech India. This is a historic launch for India as Vikram-S is the first privately built rocket to soar into the skies after the Govt. opened up the space to private entities in 2018.

The rocket which is laced with advanced avionics and an all-carbon fiber core structure weighs 545 Kg. It is 6 metres long, and 0.375 metres in diameter.

Skyroot termed Vikram-S as the “quickest and most affordable” way to travel to space. It further claimed that today’s launch will aid in testing and validating the majority of the technologies in the series, including numerous sub-systems and technologies that will be tested throughout the pre-lift-off and post-lift-off phases of the launch.