This view of the upper stage payload pad of the Vikram-1 rocket was captured moments after orbital insertion on Saturday. The rocket deployed two small CubeSats and housed several more payloads that remained attached to the upper stage.
Credit: Skyroot Aerospace
This view of the upper stage payload pad of the Vikram-1 rocket was captured moments after orbital insertion on Saturday. The rocket deployed two small CubeSats and housed several more payloads that remained attached to the upper stage.
Credit: Skyroot Aerospace
The groundbreaking launch of Skyroot comes as the Indian government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeks to boost the country’s space industry. India has long had a strong space program, with government-developed rockets such as the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle and the larger LVM3 often attracting commercial customers from the United States and Europe. India became the fourth country to successfully land a spacecraft on the Moon in 2023, and is working on an often-delayed schedule. Human-rated crew capsule to carry astronauts to low Earth orbit.
Modi has called on the Indian space industry to increase its annual launch total from about five launches a year to 50 before the end of the decade. The Prime Minister called up Chandana and congratulated the Skyroot team after the launch on Saturday.
“This is a defining moment in India’s space journey,” Modi said in a statement.. “The growing involvement of our private sector is opening new frontiers and accelerating innovation. This achievement will encourage countless young people to dream big and innovate without fear.”
Chandana, a former Indian space agency engineer, founded Skyroot in 2018 with another ISRO scientist, Naga Bharath Daka. They decided to focus first on developing a solid-fuel launcher, optimizing what Chandana described as the shortest development time and lowest cost per launch. “We wanted to get to an orbital launch vehicle in a few years,” Chandana told Ars.
“It’s a test launch,” he said at the time. “Statistically, the first launch of a private company almost always fails. It is very difficult to be successful with all new systems. But I think we have done everything we can to ensure that the first launch goes well.”
In fact, the first launch went very well and exceeded all expectations. A second launch of Vikram-1 could take place before the end of the year, Chandana said.
“This is a 100 per cent Indian designed rocket, a 100 per cent made in India rocket, built 100 per cent by Indian people, for India and for the world,” Chandana said after Saturday’s launch. “This was a historic moment for India, but also a very proud moment for the global space sector because the world needs more access to space.”
