Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace on Saturday created history by successfully launching its Vikram-1 rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, making it India’s first privately developed orbital launch vehicle to complete a successful orbital mission.
The mission, named “Aagaman”, successfully placed all onboard payloads into their designated 450-km low-Earth orbit, marking a significant milestone for India’s rapidly growing private space industry.
The three-stage Vikram-1 rocket lifted off after engineers resolved a minor pre-launch anomaly detected in the onboard computer system. The mission proceeded flawlessly, with all stage separations occurring as planned before mission controllers confirmed the successful deployment of every payload into the targeted orbit.
The mission carried technology demonstration payloads from Grhaa Space, Cosmoserve, Digiqube and Skyroot’s SCOPE platform. It also transported a symbolic payload from Cosmos Diamonds featuring miniature gold figurines of Indian scientific pioneers Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, Sir C.V. Raman and former President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
Designed to carry payloads of up to 350 kilograms to low-Earth orbit, Vikram-1 is built largely with lightweight carbon composite materials and is powered by advanced 3D-printed engines. The successful mission validated several critical technologies, including propulsion systems, guidance and navigation, as well as stage separation mechanisms.
The launch follows Skyroot Aerospace’s successful Vikram-S sub-orbital mission in 2022 and marks the company’s transition to full-fledged orbital launch capability. The achievement is expected to strengthen India’s position as a competitive global destination for affordable satellite launch services.
Skyroot Aerospace Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Pawan Kumar Chandana described Vikram-1 as one of the world’s most capable and versatile launch vehicles. He said the mission was entirely designed, developed and executed by the company, while thanking the Government of India for timely regulatory approvals. Chandana also acknowledged the support extended by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the company’s investors.
Congratulating the Skyroot team, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said the successful mission reflected the impact of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to open the space sector to private participation. He noted that unlike many maiden launches around the world, which typically carry dummy payloads, Vikram-1 successfully deployed operational payloads into orbit.
The minister added that more than 400 space startups have emerged since India’s space sector was opened to private players and said Skyroot Aerospace had become the country’s first space-tech unicorn.
ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan also hailed the successful mission, saying it demonstrated the remarkable progress achieved by India’s private space ecosystem since the sector was opened to private participation in 2020. He thanked ISRO teams across various centres and launch facilities for their technical coordination and support in ensuring the mission’s success.
The successful launch of Vikram-1 marks a landmark achievement for India’s commercial space ambitions and reinforces the country’s emergence as a major player in the global space economy.
