India’s first private launch vehicle all set for maiden flight

India’s first private mission by Skyroot Aerospace, called ‘Prarambh’ (the beginning) carried two Indian and one foreign customer payloads on the launch vehicle named ‘Vikram’.

Key Highlights

• Vikram-S carried three customer satellites in a sub-orbital flight. Sub-orbital flight travels slower than orbital velocity- they are fast enough to reach outer space but not fast enough to stay in orbit around the Earth.
• Also, Spacekidz, a Chennai based aerospace startup, fly ‘Fun-Sat’, a 2.5 kg payload developed by students from India, the US, Singapore and Indonesia, on Vikram.

 

About Vikram-S rocket:

• It is a single-stage solid-fuel suborbital launch vehicle named after Vikram Sarabhai, the pioneer of India’s space program.
• The spacecraft travels slower than the orbital velocity in a sub-orbital flight, which means it is fast enough to reach outer space but not fast enough to maintain an orbit around the Earth.
• The launch vehicle’s engine, Kalam-80, is named after former President A P J Abdul Kalam.
• The Vikram-S is a Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) that will carry payloads weighing between 290 and 560 kg (PSLV, India’s workhorse, can carry up to 1,750 kg) into sun-synchronous polar orbits.

 

Significance

In India, ISRO is capable of launching satellites into space, and the demand is quickly outrunning its capacity, especially as the space agency also has other, larger goals it needs to focus on. Therefore, the sector is being opened up to private players, with ISRO helping them with facilities and knowledge. The use of facilities can be chargeable, providing ISRO with revenue.

 

About Skyroot

• Skyroot was the first startup to sign a memorandum of understanding with ISRO for launching its rockets.
• Its launch vehicles have been crafted specially for the small satellite market, and are named ‘Vikram’ as a tribute to Vikram Sarabhai, founder of the Indian space programme. They come in three forms, Vikram I, II, and III.
• According to Skyroot, “More than 20,000 small satellites are estimated to be launched in the coming decade, and Vikram series is designed to enable this through unprecedented mass producibility and affordability.
• Skyroot claims a Vikam rocket can be assembled and launched within 24 hours from any launch site, and has the “lowest cost in the payload segment”.

 

Commercial arms of ISRO

Antrix

• As the commercial and marketing arm of ISRO, Antrix is engaged in providing Space products and services to international customers worldwide.
• With fully equipped state-of-the-art facilities, Antrix provides end-to-end solutions for many of the space products to international customers.

National Space India Limited (NSIL)

• NSIL is a Central Public Sector Enterprise of the Government of India.
• Established in 2019, it is under administrative control of the Department of Space.
• NSIL is the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) with the primary responsibility of enabling Indian industries to take up high technology space related activities and is also responsible for promotion and commercial exploitation of the products and services emanating from the space industry.
• NSIL is incorporated to carry forward the industry production of space systems and the ISRO’s efforts in realizing Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLV) from the industry.

 

NSIL first ever-commercial launch

• India’s heaviest rocket, GSLV Mark 3 (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III), recently successfully placed 36 broadband communication satellites of UK-based OneWeb.
•  With this launch, the GSLV Mark III or LVM III has entered into the global commercial launch service market.
• It was launched by ISRO as part of a contract between NSIL and Uk-based OneWeb.

 

About IN-SPACE

• To open up the Space sector and enable the participation of the Indian private sector in the entire gamut of space activities, the government of India created the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe).
• It is a single-window, independent, nodal agency which functions as an autonomous agency for all space sector activities of private entities.
• IN-SPACe, is responsible to promote, enable authorize and supervise various space activities of the NGEs that include, among others, the building of launch vehicles & satellites and providing space-based services; sharing of space infrastructure and premises under the control of DOS/ISRO and establishment of new space infrastructure and facilities.

 

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