India’s first private rocket to launch soon
- ByStartupStory | November 9, 2022
Two significant announcements on private spaceflight in India were made on Tuesday, just a few hours apart: Skyroot Aerospace will launch India’s first private rocket this month, while AgniKul Cosmos’ 3D-printed rocket engine has successfully completed testing.
Between November 12 and November 16, Skyroot will launch its Prarambh mission into space. The rocket’s technology will be tested and validated on a suborbital flight with three customer payloads. It will be launched from Sriharikota, where ISRO launches all of its orbital rockets. Depending on the weather, the precise date will be revealed nearer to launch.
Skyroot Aerospace will launch a rocket with this mission, making it the first private space business in India. The company’s Vikram series of rockets, named after space pioneer and the man who started India’s space programme, Vikram Sarabhai, includes the rocket that will be launched.
With just one week till the debut, CEO and co-founder Pawan Kumar Chandana told ThePrint he was feeling “elated and also scared.” With the incredible work of the Skyroot team, it took more than four years to arrive, he continued.
According to a press release by COO and co-founder Naga Bharath Daka, the flight would test and validate the majority of the Vikram series’ technology. The rocket is a single-stage sub-orbital launch vehicle called the Vikram-S class.
The Hyderabad-based business was among the first companies to sign Memorandums of Understanding with ISRO for access to resources and knowledge. Its objective is to “open space for all.”The Agnilet engine for AgniKul, developed by ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), has been tested and is scheduled to do a test flight by the end of this year.
On November 4, the Vertical Test Facility at the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS), Thiruvananthapuram, conducted the test for 15 seconds.The company’s fully 3D-printed Agnibaan rocket, which is now under development, will use the proprietary engine, which is a second stage semi-cryogenic engine. In its first stage, the rocket will run on an additional proprietary engine named Agnite, which has not yet been tested.
The Dhanush mobile pedestal, which means bow, will fire the Agnibaan rocket, which is also known as the “arrow of fire.” Together with Alaska Aerospace, the rocket will be put through its paces.According to CEO and co-founder Srinath Ravichandran, the Chennai-based, IIT-Madras-incubated business is preparing to debut the car by the end of the year.
He said that this engine was considerably more similar to the one that will power the inaugural flight. “This test was successful, validating our technology at ISRO’s facilities. This is a significant accomplishment for us because the engine is fairly distinctive.Through the newly established IN-SPACe regulatory organisation, which was established in 2020 to bring together ISRO and the business sector, both startups collaborated with ISRO.
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