Spacetech firm Skyroot all set to make history as it prepares to launch India's first privately made rocket into space

Even as the spacetech sector is abuzz with the news of Elon Musk's SpaceX bagging a $1.5 billion NASA contract to transport humans to the Moon, the Vikram-S rocket made by an Indian start-up will be taking off within two years of the world’s fifth largest economy opening up its space sector to private sector participation.

Developed by the Kondapur (Telengana)-based spacetech start-up, Skyroot, the Vikram-S suborbital vehicle will be launched from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) spaceport at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota off Andhra Pradesh coast.

The mission named ‘Prarambh’, meaning “the beginning” in Sanskrit, heralds a new era for start-ups in the country’s spacetech sector. Co-founded by former ISRO engineers Pawan Kumar Chandna and Naga Bharat Daka, the four-year-old Skyroot has successfully built and tested India’s first privately developed cryogenic, hypergolic-liquid, and solid fuel-based rocket engines. Made of composite materials, Skyroot’s Vikram-S rocket utilises 3D-printed solid thrusters or engines for spin stability.

“With the groundwork starting around late 2020, Vikram-S has been developed within a record time of two years. The rocket is powered by the solid-fuel propulsion system, cutting edge avionic and an all carbon-fibre core structure,” Chandana, who is also the company CEO, told Business Today.

“The Vikram-S will help test and validate the majority of the technologies in the Vikram series of orbital class vehicles, including many sub-systems and technologies that we will test across the pre-lift-off and post-lift-off phases of the launch,” added the company’s co-founder and CTO, Dhaka.

The single window nodal agency for promoting and regulating space-tech players, IN-SPACe, has authorised the launch of the sub-orbital vehicle at 1130 hrs on November 18. The countdown to the liftoff will start three hours prior. Although the authorities had initially notified a launch window between November 12-16, the date had to be revised due to bad weather.

After liftoff from Sriharikota, the Vikram-S rocket is expected to reach a height of more than 80 km in its journey into outer space. Designed to travel with an 83-kilo payload for up to 100 km, the rocket will be carrying payloads from Indian small satellite makers SpaceKidz India and N-Space Tech India, and not-for-profit space research organisation Bazoomq Space Research Laboratory of Armenia.

The Vikram-S rocket is part of Skyroot’s Vikram series launch vehicles, which pay homage to the founder of the country’s space programme, Dr. Vikram Sarabhai.