Vikram-S – Prarambh Mission Of India’s First Privately Developed Rocket Successful

Nov 19, 2022

Vikram-S lifts off from Sriharikota

SRIHARIKOTA: India’s first privately developed rocket, Vikram-S, was successfully launched in a suborbital

mission from the sounding rocket complex at Sriharikota spaceport on Friday. The rocket was

developed by startup Skyroot Aerospace.

Vikram-S lifted off at 11.30am, in a mission named ‘Prarambh’ (the beginning). Around 2.3minutes after

liftoff, the rocket reached an altitude of 81.5km with three payloads weighing a total of 83kg. After 4.84

minutes, the rocket splashed down into the Bay of Bengal at around 115.6km from Sriharikota.

The payloads were from Space Kidz India, Bazoomq Armenia and N-Space Tech India and are equipped

with sensors for the measurement of acceleration, pressure and others.

Skyroot said Vikram-S was a single stage sub-orbital rocket powered by solid-fuelled propulsion. The

rocket was built using advanced technologies, including carbon composite structures and 3D-printed

components. “Vikram-S will help test and validate majority of the technologies in the Vikram series of

orbital class space launch vehicles, including many sub-systems and technologies that will be tested

across pre liftoff and post liftoff phases of the launch,” the Hyderabad-headquartered company

said. Skyroot is the first Indian startup to sign an MoU with Isro to launch a rocket into space.

After the mission was declared a success, Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (INSPACe)

chairman Pawan Goenka said, “All systems worked as planned. Skyroot demonstrated subsystems

that will go into their orbital class launch vehicles. This is a new beginning for the Indian space

sector and a historic moment for all of us.”

Union minister Jitendra Singh, who witnessed the launch, said, “It is indeed a new beginning and a new

dawn in the journey of India’s space programme.” The minister thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for

opening up space sector for private participation.

India’s space regulator-and-promoter, the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (INSPACe),

has been operating as a single-window autonomous nodal agency of the Department of Space

(DoS) to boost the private space sector economy.

Pawan Kumar Chandana, CEO and co-founder of Skyroot Aerospace, said, “We created history today by

launching India’s first privately developed rocket. It’s the beginning

Courtesy: TOI