New Delhi–The successful orbital flight of Vikram-1, India’s first privately developed orbital rocket, demonstrates the country’s transition from a state-dominated space program to a broader ecosystem involving private companies, according to a new report.
“India is no longer just a low-cost extension of ISRO but a country building a diversified, multi-actor space ecosystem, with its own rockets, satellites and eventually its own crewed missions and space station,” India Narrative said in the report.
The report described the Vikram-1 mission as the latest milestone in a period of rapid development for India’s space sector following the Chandrayaan-3 lunar landing and the Aditya-L1 solar mission.
It attributed the mission’s success partly to reforms introduced around 2020, including the creation of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center, or IN-SPACe.
The agency allowed Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace to test Vikram-1 hardware and launch the rocket from the Indian Space Research Organisation’s facility at Sriharikota.
IN-SPACe is intended to bring private rocket developers, satellite manufacturers and downstream service providers into a unified national space ecosystem rather than requiring companies to develop separate infrastructure and capabilities.
Skyroot used advanced manufacturing technologies for Vikram-1, including carbon-composite motor casings, high-performance solid motors and 3D-printed propulsion components. The report said such technologies were until recently largely limited to ISRO and a small group of major international aerospace companies.
“It carried technology demonstration payloads from Grahaa Space in India, from Cosmoserve, from Germany’s DCubed, and from Skyroot itself — proof that Indian private launch capability is already being tested by customers who could have gone almost anywhere else in the world,” the report said.
India’s policy changes have contributed to a sharp increase in space startups, from one in 2022 to nearly 200 by 2024, according to the report. The industry also attracted about Rs 1,000 crore in investment during an eight-month period in 2023.
Policymakers aim to increase India’s share of the global space economy from about 2% in 2021 to 8% by 2030 and as much as 15% by 2047.
The Vikram-1 mission provides evidence that India is developing the industrial base needed to support those goals, the report said. (Source: IANS)
