“At Skyroot, we already launched Vikram-S from ISRO’s launch pad. That was a suborbital launch. Now we are getting ready for India’s first private orbital launch. It is the first test flight. There is also an expression of interest released with regard to the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and Launch Vehicle Mark – 3 (LVM-3) by the government of India.

So that private companies can take ISRO’s vehicles and operate them. We will see more and more of this kind of collaboration in India,” Chandana said. India’s space economy is expected to grow from around $8.4 billion now to $44 billion by 2033.

Indigenous launch capability will be a critical enabler of this growth, unlocking opportunities for India’s rapidly expanding private space ecosystem, Skyroot believes.

Vikram-1’s test flight is important because the ability to reach orbit reliably and frequently is a strategic capability that only a handful of nations have. Today, access to space remains a major bottleneck, with satellite operators often waiting months or even years for a launch opportunity.

“ISRO has been amazingly supportive. Their support has been excellent. What more they can do is that in whatever ISRO is doing, in their missions of national importance, they can have private startups as development partners. We could co-build some of the systems which ISRO would use — whether it be the space stations, new satellites they are developing or new rockets they are developing. We would like to be a more integral part of ISRO’s developments making the ecosystem more sustainable, so that the startups would have revenue opportunities and ISRO would benefit from the startups’ feed and energy,” Chandana said.

The first flight would capture the real in-flight performance data from every system on Vikram-1. This will help the makers understand how the vehicle performs from lift-off through every phase of ascent.

“This data cannot be fully replicated through ground testing,” Chandana said.

He added, “It is the first time in India that a private company has designed and developed a rocket meant to launch a satellite to space. This was enabled by the recent set of reforms by the government of India which opened up the sector to private players. We are completely designed, developed and manufactured rocket is going to take off from Indian soil. The rocket will have the capability to launch satellites to orbit. And in the entire world there are only a few companies with this capability. So it is a venture with a lot of business potential and also strategic importance for the country because we have the capability to launch more of our satellites to space”.

Skyroot sees potential in the market because, “globally only two players who are regularly launching to space — one is SpaceX and another is Rocket Lab”. “There are two or three other companies that have started their launches just like us but almost all of them are from the US. There are a couple of companies from China as well but access to the market is domestic for them. This will inspire other startups to come. Take the example of SpaceX, which has inspired others to come into the field. Similarly, we will also inspire others to venture into the field with unique solutions and differentiators,” Chandana said.

The launch is called Mission Aagaman, meaning “the arrival” and it marks Skyroot’s second mission following the successful suborbital flight of Vikram-S, the first private rocket to reach space from Indian soil, Chandana said.

Vikram-1 will be a partially commercial flight, with the company planning to commence full commercial flights after one or two successful demonstrations to orbit.