India’s first privately developed orbital rocket blasted off into space on Saturday, an achievement Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed as “opening new frontiers and accelerating innovation.”
The South Asian nation becomes the third after the US and China to achieve the milestone, following a surge of investment in the space sector since the pandemic and the creation of more than 400 startups.
What happened?
Skyroot Aerospace, the company behind the launch, said the Vikram-1 rocket lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on Sriharikota island, in the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh.
The launch, dubbed “Mission Aagaman” after the Hindi word for “arrival,” took place at 0635 UTC/GMT (11:05 a.m. local time).
“Hello space, we have arrived!” the firm wrote on X. “Vikram-1’s Test Flight-1 has completed its mission. The first-ever Indian private sector launch has been successfully completed.”
In a separate statement, the company hailed the launch as a “grand success,” noting that further test flights would take place “before we move into routine commercial flights.”
Vikram-1 is about 22 meters (72 ft) tall and can carry payloads of up to 350 kilograms (711 pounds) into low-Earth orbit.
Skyroot said the rocket is carrying several experimental payloads from Indian and overseas customers, including a lab-grown diamond and robotic arms capable of removing space debris.
The firm said the mission aims to test the rocket’s propulsion, avionics, telemetry and guidance systems in flight while gathering critical data for future commercial launches.
Modi offered his congratulations on X, describing it as a “defining moment in India’s space journey.”
“The growing participation of our private sector is opening new frontiers and accelerating innovation. This achievement will encourage countless youngsters to dream bigger and innovate fearlessly.”
A smaller rocket, Vikram-S, made its first sub-orbital mission in 2022.
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India’s growing role in private space sector
India opened its space sector to private investment in 2020, allowing startups to build rockets, satellites and launch services.
These activities were once the preserve of the government’s ISRO space agency.
In August 2023, India became only the fourth country to successfully land an unmanned spacecraft on the Moon, after Russia, the United States and China.
India’s government wants to grow its global share of the space economy fivefold from the current 2%, aiming to reach a valuation of $44 billion by 2033, according to the government agency IN-SPACe.
Skyroot is one of hundreds of Indian space startups that have drawn global investment. Earlier this year, the Hyderabad-based company became the first in India’s space sector to achieve a $1 billion valuation.
ISRO, meanwhile, said this week it was concerned about an exodus of scientists from the state space agency to the private sector.
The private race to space is becoming more competitive globally, with governments across Europe and Asia seeking to take a share of the market dominated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
These include China, Japan, South Korea, Germany, France and the Netherlands.
Edited by: Saim Dušan Inayatullah
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