Vikram-S : India’s First Privately Developed Rocket

Vikram-S : India’s First Privately Developed Rocket

India’s first privately developed rocket, Vikram-S, is poised to create history as it undergoes final preparations at the ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) launchpad in Sriharikota for launch between November 12 and 16.

• It was developed by the Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace.
• The mission named ‘Prarambh’ (the beginning), since it is the first mission for Skyroot.
• With this maiden mission, Skyroot is set to become the first private space company in India to launch a rocket into space.
• The launch mission will be a suborbital spaceflight, and will carry three customer payloads to the intended orbit.
• A suborbital spaceflight refers to a height of around 100km from the Earth’s surface, and is done at a lower altitude than an orbital flight, which reaches at least a low-Earth orbit — between around 200km to 2,000km from Earth.
• Suborbital flights are known to be important for conducting tests of space missions, before final commercial missions take place.
• Among the three payloads is a 2.5kg satellite of another space startup, Space Kidz India, which has been built by students from India, the US and Indonesia.
• Skyroot, a two-time national award winner, is the first start-up to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ISRO in this regard.
• The Vikram series, named after the founder of India’s space programme Dr Vikram Sarabhai, are all-carbon-fibre structures that can launch up to 800 kg of payloads to the Low Earth Orbit.
• Skyroot has designed the series for the small satellite market at low costs and with capabilities for multi-orbit insertion.

Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe):

• The establishment of IN-SPACe was announced in June 2020.
• It is an autonomous and single window nodal agency in the Department of Space for the promotion, encouragement and regulation of space activities of both government and private entities.