Skyroot Vikram-S: India¡¯s First Privately Built Rocket Successfully Launched From Sriharikota
This is the first-ever launch since the Union Government opened up the space sector to private players in 2018.
Today will go down as a historic day in the field of Indian aerospace as the nation¡¯s first privately-built rocket, Vikram-S was successfully launched from Sriharikota.
Skyroot
Developed by a Hyderabad-based startup dubbed Skyroot Aerospace, the rocket successfully blasted off the launch pad at 11:30 AM at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
The six-metre tall rocket was a single-stage suborbital space vehicle and it soared up to an altitude of 81 kilometres. The mission named ¡®Parambh¡¯ carried with it two domestic payloads developed by SpaceKids India and N-Space Tech India, as well as one foreign payload from Bazoomq of Armenia.
This is the first-ever launch since the Union Government opened up the space sector to private players in 2018.
The startup was founded by former ISRO scientists, Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka and they brought the rocket to fruition in just two years.
They developed the state-of-the-art rocket using advanced tech like carbon composite structures and even 3D printed components.
Skyroot
Named after the founder of our nation¡¯s first-ever space program -- Dr Vikram Sarabhai -- the rocket sports never-before-seen avionics as well as all carbon-fibre core structure. It was powered using solid-fuelled propulsion and weighed 545 kilograms.
Vikram is a series of modular space launch vehicles designed for the small-satellite market and is expected to shoot out over 20,000 small satellites in the coming decade. These vehicles possess unique capabilities such as multi-orbit insertion, performing interplanetary missions etc.
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