he maiden flight of India’s first private launch vehicle, Vikram-S, has successfully lifted off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, about 100 km from Chennai, on Friday.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Hyderabad-based space tech company Skyroot Aerospace proudly announced that “Mission Pararambh” was accomplished. Skyroot Aerospace become the first privately held company in India after the space sector was opened for the private players by the Centre in 2020.
Vikram-S was named in a tribute to the father of the country’s space programme Vikram Sarabhai.
The rocket outperformed its exceptions and achieved an apogee of 89.5 km at a hypersonic speed of Mach 5. The vehicle reached space in 155 seconds.
Pawan K Goenka, Chairman, IN-SPACe, Department of Space, said: “All the systems worked as planned. I congratulate Skyroot and all the centres of ISRO. This is a new beginning of Indian space sector.”
Union Minister of State Jitendra Singh, who witnessed the launch, thanks Prime Minister Narendra Modi for bringing in the reforms and opening the space sector for private players.
Skyroot co-founder Pawan Chandana said the Prarambh mission symbolizes a new India. “This is a small step by our startup, but a giant leap for the Indian space sector.” He thanks ISRO and IN-SPACe for hand-holding Team Skyroot all through.
The 6-metre tall launch vehicle is one of the world’s first few all-composite rockets that has 3-D printed solid thrusters for spin stability of the launch vehicle.
The three payloads riding piggyback on the rocket are from Chennai-based start-up SpaceKidz, Andhra Pradesh-based N-SpaceTech and Armenian BazoomQ Space Research Lab. ‘Fun-Sat’, a 2.5 kgs payload belonging to Chennai-based aerospace startup Spacekidz, has been developed by students from India, the United States, Singapore and Indonesia.
According to Skyroot, Friday’s launch has successfully tested and validated most of the technologies in the Vikram series of orbital class space launch vehicles, including many sub-systems and technologies. It said rockets can be assembled and launched within 24 hours from any launch site.
Skyroot Aerospace become the first privately held company in India after the space sector was opened for private players by the Centre in 2020.
(With PTI inputs)
newindianexpress.com