New Delhi: Skyroot Aerospace launched Vikram-1, India’s first privately developed orbital rocket, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on Saturday. The rocket lifted off at 11.30am as part of Mission Aagaman, marking a landmark moment for India’s private space sector.
Announcing the launch on X, Skyroot Aerospace said the mission had been completed successfully, calling it the first-ever Indian private-sector orbital launch. “Hello space, we have arrived!” the company posted. In an earlier post, Skyroot confirmed that Vikram-1 had reached orbit, injecting its payloads into an approximately 450km orbit after completing its final burn – a milestone the company said made India the third country in the world with private orbital launch capability.
Vikram-1 is designed to place satellites into orbit, unlike Skyroot’s earlier rocket, Vikram-S, which had completed a successful suborbital flight in 2022. The mission tested the rocket’s propulsion system, stage separation, and guidance and navigation systems, ahead of future commercial satellite launches.
Vikram-1 can carry up to 450kg to low Earth orbit at a 45-degree inclination, or 290kg to a 500km sun-synchronous polar orbit. For Mission Aagaman specifically, the payload was about 350kg at a 60-degree inclination.
Skyroot was founded in 2018 by two former Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) scientists, Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka. Until now, orbital launches from India had only ever been carried out by Isro, with private firms limited to supplying components rather than building complete rockets.
Vikram-1 changes that. Skyroot designed the rocket, built its engines, integrated the vehicle and managed the mission entirely on its own – a model comparable to what SpaceX pioneered in the US.
The launch came weeks after two consecutive failures of Isro’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), adding to the significance of Skyroot’s attempt. Naga Bharath Daka, the company’s co-founder and chief operating officer, said the mission reflected the work of about 1,000 people and more than 400 suppliers.
He described it as a step toward building a global launch business from India. Among the payloads aboard the rocket was a symbolic one: a handwritten postcard from the prime minister, Narendra Modi, reading “Vande Mataram”.
Modi congratulated the Skyroot team in a post on X, saying he had spoken to them about the launch. He called it “a defining moment in India’s space journey” and said growing private-sector participation was opening new frontiers and would encourage more young people to innovate.
Vikram-1 is a four-stage rocket, standing about 20 metres tall with a 1.7-metre diameter. Its first three stages run on solid fuel to provide the thrust needed for lift-off and acceleration.
The fourth stage uses a liquid engine for precise orbit insertion, since liquid engines can be steered and controlled more accurately than solid ones. The rocket’s body is made of carbon composite material rather than aluminium, making it lighter, stronger and more corrosion-resistant.
Its engines are also 3D-printed, a technique that reduces the number of parts, cuts manufacturing time and lowers costs. Ahead of the launch, Skyroot had completed integration of all three stages of the rocket and stacked it on the launch pad.
The company carried out final vehicle checks, along with telemetry and tracking radar tests. Airspace and maritime restrictions had also been put in place around the launch site.
The site itself belongs to Isro, not Skyroot. While Skyroot built and operated the rocket, India’s launch infrastructure, testing facilities, safety clearances and tracking systems all remain under Isro’s charge.
In its own post on X, Isro congratulated the Skyroot team and said the launch marked “a significant milestone for India’s private space sector.” The space agency also credited IN-SPACe and its own teams for enabling the launch through ground testing support, technical consultancy and round-the-clock safety surveillance, and called the mission a reflection of the government’s space sector reforms.
Mission Aagaman also carried multiple payloads from Indian startups. One key payload, Mission Embrace, developed by Hyderabad-based Cosmoserve Space, tested a soft robotic system designed to capture inactive satellites and space debris in orbit using flexible robotic arms.
The technology could help address the growing problem of space debris if it proves successful. More than 35,000 tracked objects larger than 10cm currently orbit the Earth, alongside millions of smaller untracked fragments, making debris removal an increasingly urgent priority for future space missions.
The mission is significant not just for Skyroot but for India’s broader private space ambitions. Since the sector opened up to private participation around 2020, several startups have entered the space, but Vikram-1 becomes the first privately developed orbital rocket to attempt reaching orbit from Indian soil.
Skyroot reached unicorn status in May after a $60 million funding round co-led by Singapore’s GIC and Sherpalo Ventures. The company has raised about $160 million in total across 11 funding rounds and employs more than 1,160 people. It plans at least two more test flights before moving to commercial operations.