Skyroot says India’s first private orbital rocket completed test flight

India’s first privately built orbital rocket took its maiden flight on Saturday, according to its builder Skyroot Aerospace, in a step linked by officials to India’s efforts to expand its role in the global space economy.

The Vikram-1 rocket took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. Skyroot Aerospace said in a post on X that the rocket’s first test flight had completed its mission and that the first Indian private-sector launch had been successfully completed.

Vikram-1 is designed to carry small satellites into low-Earth orbit. It is about as tall as a seven-storey building and can carry payloads of up to 350 kilograms, or 771 pounds.

Pawan Goenka, chairman of the government’s Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre, said the result went beyond expectations for the first orbital launch by an Indian private company. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the effort a defining moment in India’s space journey and said private-sector participation was opening new frontiers and speeding innovation. Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar also welcomed the launch.

The rocket carried several payloads, including a lab-grown diamond, robotic arms designed to remove space debris, and a miniature 18-karat gold rocket containing small sculptures of Indian physicists Vikram Sarabhai and CV Raman, and former Indian president and aerospace engineer APJ Abdul Kalam.

The report said India’s space sector has grown after being opened to private companies in 2020. It said the country’s space economy is valued at around $8.4 billion and now includes more than 400 space startups. It also noted that India became the fourth country to successfully land an unmanned spacecraft on the Moon in August 2023, after Russia, the United States and China.

Former Indian Space Research Organisation chairman K. Sivan said Indian space startups were showing the results of the decision to open the sector to private players. He said building a rocket is among the most challenging technologies in the space industry and said Skyroot’s launch would motivate others. He also said the launch would boost India’s global reputation.