Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace has ticked off another step in its preparations for the second flight of Vikram-1, India's first privately built orbital rocket.
The company said on X that Raman-1 has completed its test fire and is ready for Flight 2. The thruster controls Vikram-1's roll, or its rotation around its long axis, helping the rocket hold its orientation during flight. Skyroot also shared a video of the thruster firing on the test stand.
Second Mission Underway
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Preparations for the second mission are already moving at the launch site. Skyroot has shipped the rocket's first stage to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, where integration and testing have begun.
The flight is an important one for the startup. After a successful first launch, it now has to show it can fly reliably and repeatedly, which is key for any company hoping to compete in the commercial launch business.
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What Happened On The First Flight
Vikram-1 made its maiden orbital flight on July 18 from Sriharikota, under a mission called “Mission Aagaman”. The rocket placed its payloads into a 450 km orbit about 15 minutes after liftoff, Reuters reported. With that, India became the third country to achieve orbital launch capability through a private company.
The mission was meant to test the rocket's propulsion, avionics, telemetry, and guidance, navigation and control systems in flight. “This is a test flight. We will be doing a few of these before we move into routine commercial flights,” Skyroot said after the launch.
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About Vikram-1
The rocket stands about 22 metres tall and can carry up to 350 kg into low-Earth orbit. It uses three solid-fuel stages and a liquid-fuel orbital adjustment module powered by a 3D-printed engine.
Before Vikram-1, Skyroot's Vikram-S became the first privately developed rocket to reach space from Indian soil in 2022, on a suborbital flight.
Notably, Skyroot was founded in 2018 by former space scientists Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka, with the aim of making space launches as routine and accessible as commercial flights. The company now has a team of over 1,000 people.
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Earlier this year, it became the first space company in India to reach a $1 billion valuation.
India opened its space sector to private companies in 2020. The government aims to grow the country's share of the global space economy to $44 billion by 2033, from about $8 billion currently.
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