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ISRO to launch country’s first privately built rocket today
The Indian Space Research Organisation is set to launch country’s first rocket built by a private company on Friday.
The Indian Space Research Organisation is set to launch country’s first rocket built by a private company on Friday. Announcing the development, Union minister of state (independent charge), science and technology, atomic energy and space Dr Jitendra Singh said that the first launch of the private rocket, Vikram-suborbital (VKS), will happen from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh at 11.30am on Friday.
“ISRO is all set to make history on Friday when it launches the first-ever private rocket, setting a new milestone in the 75 years journey of independent India. This is also significant in increasing the presence of private players in the space sector or the country,” said Singh, who will be present for VKS’s launch.
The VKS rocket has been developed by Hyderabad-based startup company, Skyroot Aerospace Pvt Ltd (SAPL) and is a single-stage spin-stabilised solid propellant rocket with a mass of approximately 545kg. The rocket goes to a max altitude of 101km and splashes into the sea. The overall duration of the launch is just 300 seconds.
“Skyroot was the first startup to sign an MoU (memorandum of understanding) with ISRO for launching its rockets. Apart from being the nation’s first private launch, it will also be the maiden mission of Skyroot Aerospace, named Prarambh. It will carry a total of three payloads in space, including one from foreign customers,” Singh said.
Skyroot Aerospace said on Thursday that 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-lift-off and post-lift-off phases of the launch.
“The flight sequence for Vikram-S will be — ignition, launcher leaving, spin motor ignition, maxQ, burnout, apogee and splashdown, in a space of 290.97 seconds. We are proud of our mission which is poised to create history for Indian private space and further the vision of our Prime Minister,” a Skyroot Aerospace spokespersons said.
Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) — a single-window autonomous agency under the government’s department of space to boost the presence of private players in the space sector — said that this launch will be heralding a “new age in India’s space sector”.
“The Vikram-S rocket will mark the start of a new age in India’s private space domain. The seamless joint efforts of various ISRO centres, including SDSC (Satish Dhawan Space Centre), ISTRAC (ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network) and VSSC (Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre), Skyroot team and IN-SPACe have enabled the VKS to be launch-ready in a short period of time,” IN-SPACe said in a statement.
The initial launch date of Vikram-S was scheduled for November 15 but on November 13, the company said that the launch will be delayed because of bad weather and gave a revised launch window of November 15 to 19.
