DD India

Space sector start-up Skyroot Aerospace unveiled its indigenously built Vikram-1 on October 24. It is expected to deliver satellites to low earth orbit in early 2024.

Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh also inaugurated ‘The MAX-Q Campus’, the new headquarters of the start-up at the GMR Aerospace and Industrial Park at Mamidipally in South Hyderabad.

Singh toured the Skyroot headquarters spread across 60,000 sq ft and billed as the country’s largest private rocket development facility under one roof.

Vikram-1, named after the father of India’s space programme Vikram Sarabhai, is a multi-stage launch vehicle with a capacity to place around 300 kg of payloads in low earth orbit. It is an all-carbon-fiber-bodied rocket that can place multiple satellites into orbit and features 3D-printed liquid engines.

Planned to be launched in early 2024, Vikram-I will be Skyroot’s second rocket, after the successful launch of the Vikram-S rocket on November 18 last year when the space start-up became the first company to have launched a private rocket from the Isro’s launch center in Sriharikota. Headed by two IITians Pawan Chandana and Naga Bharat Daka, Skyroot has now the capacity to develop a cost-effective rocket on demand.

Skyroot: Country’s largest rocket development center
“Skyroot Aerospace” is the first space startup, which launched a private rocket from ISRO station in Sriharikota last year after the space sector was opened to private entrepreneurs three years ago. India’s largest rocket development facility with state-of-the-art technology has been set up under the leadership of two key IIT graduate experts, Pawan and Bharat. It can develop rockets on a cost-effective basis based on demand.

Skyroot’s Vikram-1 orbital rocket inaugurated
Space startup Skyroot Aerospace has shown its indigenously made Vikram-1 rocket to the world. It is preparing to place ‘Bhima’ rocket satellites in low Earth orbit early next year. Singh also inaugurated Skyroot’s Vikram-1 orbital rocket.

Sing further added that Vikram-1 will be important for India as the country opened up the space sector to private entrepreneurs in a historic reform in 2020. The success of Skyroot will inspire the youth of India who are interested in setting up their startup ventures in new and emerging sectors including space, biotech, agriculture, and energy.