Vikram-S climbed to an altitude of 89.5 km after launch and met all parameters, said Skyroot Aerospace, which developed the rocket.
Vikram-S, India’s first privately developed rocket, successfully lifted off from Sriharikota spaceport today, marking the private sector’s foray into the country’s space industry, dominated by ISRO for decades.
Mission Prarambh, Vikram S Rocket: In the name of Sarabhai and Kalam
The rocket was developed by Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace, a company established in 2018. It is called Vikram-S. It is named after Vikram Sarabhai, the founder of India’s space program.
“The Vikram-S rocket is a single-stage sub-orbital launch vehicle that will carry three customer payloads and help test and validate technologies in the Vikram series space launch vehicles,” said Naga Bharath Daka, COO and Co-Founder. of the society.
The company is designing three Vikram rockets using various solid and cryogenic fuels. The Vikram series of missiles are among the few launch vehicles with their core structure built using carbon composites. The thrusters used for spin stability in the car have been 3D printed.
The engine used in the launch vehicle is named after former president Dr A P J Abdul Kalam. The performance of the ‘Kalam-80’ will be one of the critical areas that the company will monitor during the flight of Vikram-S.
Mission Prarambh will see Vikram-S carry three customer satellites in a sub-orbital flight. In a sub-orbital flight, the vehicle travels slower than the orbital velocity — which means it is fast enough to reach outer space but not fast enough to stay in orbit around the Earth. Tycoons Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson have undertaken sub-orbital flights to the edge of the area.
Friday’s flight will take less than five minutes. Vikram-S is a single-stage solid fuel rocket meant to test nearly 80 per cent of all systems and processes before the launch of Vikram-1 scheduled for next year. Vikram-1 will be a much larger vehicle undertaking orbital flights.
On board, a satellite built by school kids
Vikram-S will carry three satellites, including one by SpaceKidz India called FunSat, parts of which were developed by school students. The Vikram rockets can carry between 290 kg and 560 kg payloads into sun-synchronous polar orbits.
In comparison, India’s workhorse PSLV can carry up to 1,750 kg to such an orbit. The newly-developed Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), meant for carrying smaller commercial satellites, can carry up to 300 kg to sun-synchronous orbit