History Beckons: Skyroot Lifts Off With India’s First Private Orbital Mission
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Spacetech unicorn Skyroot successfully lifted off with Vikram-1, India’s first private orbital rocket mission, marking one of the biggest moments for the country’s startup ecosystem and spacetech industry.
The four-stage launch vehicle blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at around 11:30 IST as part of ‘Mission Aagaman’, the startup’s maiden attempt to place payloads into Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
Originally scheduled within a launch window between July 12 and August 4, the mission is targeting an orbit at an altitude of 450 km and an inclination of 60 degrees.
Besides carrying customer payloads and hosted experiments from domestic and international customers, the primary objective of the mission is to validate Vikram-1’s propulsion, telemetry, avionics, guidance, navigation, control and stage separation systems under actual flight conditions while gathering critical performance data.
Standing seven storeys tall, Vikram-1 is a four-stage launch vehicle capable of carrying payloads of up to 480 kg to LEO and up to 290 kg to Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO). The rocket uses solid propulsion across its first three stages, followed by a liquid-propellant orbital adjustment stage. It also incorporates 3D-printed engines and pneumatic stage separation systems.
Ahead of the launch, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished the Skyroot team success, describing Mission Aagaman as a landmark moment for India’s growing private space ecosystem.
The mission builds on Skyroot’s Vikram-S launch in 2022, when the startup became the first private Indian company to launch a suborbital rocket. Unlike Vikram-S, which served as a technology demonstration mission, Vikram-1 is Skyroot’s maiden attempt to place payloads into orbit, a significantly more complex feat that could pave the way for commercial satellite launch services.
Following the test flight, Skyroot plans up to two more Vikram-1 launches this year before introducing Vikram-1U, an upgraded version with strap-on boosters, in the first quarter of 2027. Simultaneously, it is also developing Vikram-2, a one-tonne-class launch vehicle powered by a cryogenic upper stage, as it expands its launch vehicle portfolio.
The launch comes two months after Skyroot raised $60 Mn in a funding round co-led by existing investors Sherpalo Ventures and GIC at a pre-money valuation of $1.1 Bn, becoming India’s first spacetech unicorn.
Founded in 2018 by former ISRO scientists Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka, Skyroot develops modular launch vehicles for the global small satellite market. The startup’s 2 lakh sq ft Infinity Campus in Hyderabad has the capacity to manufacture one orbital rocket every month.
The mission also represents one of the biggest outcomes of India’s space sector reforms, which opened launch activities to private companies under the supervision of IN-SPACe. With India’s spacetech sector projected to become a $77 Bn market by 2030, Vikram-1’s maiden mission is widely seen as a defining moment for the country’s private space ambitions and a significant step towards establishing India as a global commercial launch destination.
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