Indian space startup Skyroot Aerospace on Saturday successfully launched Vikram-1, India’s first privately developed orbital rocket, marking a major milestone in the country’s efforts to expand its presence in the global commercial space market.
The rocket lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 0635 GMT and successfully placed its payload into a 450-kilometre orbit about 15 minutes later, making India the third country to achieve orbital launch capability through private enterprise.
The launch, originally scheduled for 0600 GMT, was briefly delayed before proceeding successfully. The mission tested the rocket’s propulsion, avionics, telemetry, guidance, navigation and control systems while carrying customer payloads and scientific experiments.
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“Mission Aagaman is a grand success,” the company said in a statement. “This is a test flight. We will be doing a few of these before we move into routine commercial flights,” it added.
Founded in 2018, Skyroot became India’s first space-sector startup to attain a $1 billion valuation earlier this year. The launch follows the company’s successful Vikram-S suborbital mission in 2022.
India opened its space sector to private investment in 2020 and aims to grow its space economy from about $8 billion to $44 billion by 2033 through increased private-sector participation.
Reuters
