India’s private space business is coming to a major milestone on Saturday when Vikram-1, India’s first orbital rocket, will fly from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. Skyroot’s mission, Mission Aagaman, could be the country’s first private aerospace company to drive satellites into orbit, a huge step forward for India’s booming commercial space sector. The 16-minute flight could cement Skyroot in India’s history of space, and it could establish itself with the United States and China as the countries with independent satellite-launching companies. And the mission will also have a big impact on Skyroot’s very real mission to launch something that Skyroot calls a “cab service to space”— a specialized space launch solution for small satellite operators.
A ‘Cab Service’ rather than waiting for a Rocket. And because satellites are so often used as secondary payloads, their operators are often not in control of the launch dates or the orbit their spacecraft will be in; many companies take months or even years to find a solution. Skyroot will change that. What the company says is Vikram-1 would be a dedicated launch vehicle, which customers order in the same way they book a cab; they will pick the launch date and the desired destination orbit according to their mission.
Skyroot co-founder and CEO Pawan Kumar Chandana compared the service to booking a ride on a cab-hailing app. “If you just want to visit a friend, you don’t need a train— you book a cab. What we are doing is a cab service to space that can take a satellite to a different location in orbit,” Chandana said. The model is similar to the business model of American launch company Rocket Lab, which specializes in small launch missions. Upscaling the Demands for Small Satellite Launches. For the past 10 years, there has been an increase in the number of small satellites.
The satellites have vital applications in Earth-watching, sky climate prediction, communication, navigation, agrofarming, fisheries, natural disaster management, scientific research, and national security. But Chandana thinks launch availability is one of the biggest barriers for satellite companies. Space access has become a critical bottleneck, he said, and many satellite operators have been forced to wait for launch dates for long periods. Vikram-1 is equipped to address that need. The rocket is nearly seven storeys tall and carries a payload of up to 350 kg into Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
Mission Aagaman will launch its payloads into orbit about 450 kilometres above the Earth. The payload is so small that customers don’t need big lift launch vehicles but would rather have a flexible vehicle that can access space they don’t want for a better orientation. Mission Aagaman carries six payloads. Mission Aagaman, a nickname from Sanskrit for “arrival,” will carry six payloads to orbit. They are an Earth observation camera that would be used for Earth observation, satellites like one created by a German company, and a robotic arm to test future technology to remove space debris. Both of the payloads are symbolic and represent the scientific legacy of India.
Cosmic Bloom is a lotus made from diamonds grown in labs by Cosmos Diamonds that represents India’s innovation and curiosity in space. And the other is a tiny gold rocket that has microscopic sculptures of three iconic Indian scientists named Sir C.V. Raman, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, and Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, who is often referred to as the father of the Indian space program. Each of them is supposedly smaller than a grain of rice. The tribute is based on Chandana’s words and thanks the pioneers who laid the foundation of India’s space science achievements. A Bigger Push Than Vikram-S. Although Skyroot accomplished its biggest goal in November 2022 when it launched Vikram-S, India’s first privately developed suborbital rocket, Vikram-1 is quite different. The rocket has to accelerate to much higher speeds and then cruise in an incredibly tight path to get to the orbit.
It is only then that orbit can be maintained without being pulled back to Earth. They should succeed because this would show Skyroot had moved from developing its technologies to commercializing an orbital launch system. Chandana was aware of the risks involved, noting that SpaceX never even successfully launched a spacecraft into orbit despite many attempts. India's Private Space Industry Hits New Heights. Skyroot Aerospace was established by ex-ISRO members Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka in 2018 to become one of the largest space-tech companies in India. The startup has recently become India’s first space-tech unicorn at $1.1 billion. It has taken off because the Indian government has decided that the country’s space industry will be opened up to the private sector by 2020.
As a result, around 400 space startups have been created in India with the aim of contributing to the global space business in the future—about 2% from 2023 to 2030—and eventually a 10% share for India by 2030. Skyroot expects to launch another test mission in June and commercial launches in 2027. Its Hyderabad manufacturing facility is able to produce one rocket every month, with customers globally able to launch on a regular basis, it says. Skyroot believes dedicated launch services will play an important role in the fast-growing global satellite market and in the future, to attract a 70-80% share of its business from international clients. Mission Aagaman will surely set the stage for India’s private space industry in the future in terms of how small satellites will find orbit.
