Skyroot Aerospace successfully launches India’s first private space rocket

In a feat that could well be the start of a new space age in India’s space-faring history, Skyroot Aerospace has become the first private space company in India, to launch its own rocket. The startup achieved this feat from India’s rocket launch facility at Sriharikota, with support from ISRO and the newly incorporated INSpace.

The mission under which this launch took place, has been named ‘Prarambh’, with the rocket being named “Vikram-S”, after Vikram Sarabhai, regarded as the father of Indian space program. The rocket, which is a suborbital launch, is a single-stage sub-orbital launch vehicle which carried three customer payloads and help test and validate the majority of the technologies in the Vikram series of space launch vehicles. It is hoped that the launch will pave the way for India’s other private space players to step up and join Skyroot in launching rockets to space.

Currently the most funded private space player in India, the spacetech startup has raised a total of $68 million across several rounds, including $51 million in Series-B financing this September, the largest funding round ever in India’s space technology sector to date. Additionally, it successfully built and tested India’s first privately developed cryogenic, hypergolic-liquid, and solid fuel-based rocket engines.