Diamonds and a ‘cab to orbit’: The rocket aiming to transform India’s space ambitions
Skyroot Aerospace
Vikram-1 is slated for launch from the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (Isro) launch facility in Sriharikota on Saturday.
What if launching a satellite was as straightforward as hailing a taxi?
This is the vision driving an Indian private rocket company as it prepares for its inaugural orbital launch on Saturday.
Skyroot Aerospace, which recently achieved the status of India’s first space tech unicorn with a valuation of $1.1 billion, is poised to launch Vikram-1 from the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (Isro) launch facility in Sriharikota, located in southern India.
The seven-story rocket, scheduled for lift-off at 11:30 AM India time (06:00 GMT), is destined for Low Earth Orbit, approximately 280 miles (450 kilometers) away.
Should the 16-minute flight prove successful, Skyroot will mark a significant achievement as the first Indian private company to launch a rocket into orbit. This would position India as only the third nation, following the United States and China, to have a private entity capable of orbital launches.
A successful Vikram-1 launch will bring Skyroot closer to its objective of providing what it describes as a “cab service to space.” This service would allow companies to charter a rocket to reach a specific orbital location for satellite deployment or to visit a space station.
Skyroot Aerospace
A diamond lotus is among Vikram-1’s payloads.
The rocket, named in honor of Vikram Sarabhai, often referred to as the father of India’s space program, is compact and has a payload capacity of up to 350 kilograms, as stated by Skyroot co-founder and CEO Pawan Kumar Chandana in an interview with the BBC.
Chandana highlighted that access to space currently presents a “major bottleneck, with satellite operators often waiting for months or even years for a launch opportunity,” and his venture aims to rectify this situation.
He explained that Skyroot intends to shorten these lengthy wait times for satellite launches by offering dedicated missions for smaller payloads.
Rather than sharing space on large rockets that operate on fixed schedules, customers will have the option to book a launch specifically tailored to their satellite and its required orbit – akin to choosing a taxi over waiting for a train.
“If you want to just go to a friend’s house, you don’t need a train, you book a cab, an Uber. What we are offering is a cab service to space, which can be used to ride to a unique location in the orbit to place a satellite or visit a station,” Chandana elaborated.
If successful, Skyroot’s operational model would bear resemblance to that of Rocket Lab in the United States, a company known for its small-lift launch vehicles.
If all proceeds as planned, the Indian test launch mission, named Aagman – meaning “arrival” in Sanskrit – will place six payloads into orbit.
These payloads include scientific instruments such as a robotic arm designed for space debris removal, an Earth observation camera, and satellites, including one from a German company.
However, the mission also carries two symbolic payloads that have garnered considerable attention in India. One is a lotus crafted from lab-grown diamonds, and the other is a miniature gold rocket featuring micro-sculptures of three of India’s most distinguished scientists.
Each sculpture, smaller than a grain of rice, serves as a tribute to Nobel Prize-winning physicist C.V. Raman, aerospace engineer and former Indian president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, and Vikram Sarabhai.
“We exist because of the Indian space programme, we stand on the shoulders of our early visionaries and this is our way of paying tribute to three great scientists who shaped India’s space programme,” Chandana explained.
He further stated that the diamond lotus, named Cosmic Bloom and developed by Cosmos Diamonds, is an artistic homage to space and a celebration of India’s creativity. It is intended to evoke the sentiment of “like a diamond in the sky,” referencing the well-known nursery rhyme.
Skyroot Aerospace
The payloads include scientific instruments such as a robotic arm for removing space debris.
Saturday’s launch represents the first of two planned test flights by Skyroot this year, with commercial launches anticipated to commence next year.
“We have the capacity to build one rocket every month at our factory in the southern city of Hyderabad,” Chandana stated.
“This will be a historic flight for the private space sector in India. It’ll be a major milestone,” he added.
He noted that success is not always immediate, referencing SpaceX’s achievement on its fourth attempt.
Skyroot was established in 2018 when Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka, who were former colleagues at Isro, resigned from their positions to co-found the space-tech startup focused on developing rocket components for satellites.
In 2020, India opened its space sector to private enterprises, enabling them to construct rockets and satellites and utilize Isro’s launch facilities. This initiative aims to increase India’s share in the global space market from its current 2% to 10% by 2030.
Since then, the Indian government reports that over 400 space startups have been established in the country, with Skyroot emerging as the most successful among them and the sole unicorn in the sector.
The company first gained significant attention in November 2022 with the launch of India’s inaugural privately developed suborbital rocket.
All eyes are now on Saturday’s launch, which occurs at a time when India’s space program has been a subject of considerable interest, following Isro’s notable Moon, Mars, and solar missions in recent years.
India has ambitious plans, including sending astronauts into space next year, deploying an orbiter to Venus by 2028, and establishing its own space station by 2035.
Skyroot’s “cab service” concept could potentially support Isro’s space programs, though Chandana indicated that “70-80% of our market would be the global economy.”
“These would include satellites supporting services that millions rely on every day, from agriculture and fisheries to disaster management, communications, connectivity, navigation and national security. So, the economic opportunity is huge,” he concluded.
