India’s first privately built rocket, Vikram-S, was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh on November 18, 2022 at 11:30 a.m. IST. This launch was an initiative by the Hyderabad-based space-tech start-up, Skyroot Aerospace. The mission was authorised by the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe), the nodal agency approved by the Government of India to function as a mediator between ISRO and the private space sector in India.
Mission Prarambh
The mission was named ‘Prarambh’, a Sanskrit word meaning ‘beginning’. The name indicates that the launch of Vikram-S signifies the first venture of the private sector in rocket development in India and the first mission for Skyroot. The slogan for Prarambh is ‘A New Beginning, A New Dawn’.
Vikram-S achieved the peak altitude of 89.5 km above sea level, more than the target of 80 km before splashing down in the Bay of Bengal some 5 minutes later.
Vikram-S also launched the payloads in about 500 km low inclination orbit.
The inclination is the angle between the orbital plane and the plane of reference, normally expressed in degrees. In the case of a satellite orbiting Earth or other planets, the plane of reference is usually the plane containing the equator. A satellite with a low inclination can be boosted into orbit by using the Earth’s rotation. The amount of energy required to launch a satellite into low inclination orbit is less than that required to launch satellites in a highly inclined orbit, such as a polar orbit.
About Vikram-S
Named after the founder of India’s space programme, Dr Vikram Sarabhai, Vikram-S, (where S denotes suborbital), is a single-stage, spin stabilised, solid propellant suborbital launch vehicle.
A suborbital rocket refers to a space vehicle that can attain a height of around 100 km above sea level (the Karman Line) and then falls back to Earth. The velocity at which a vehicle is travelling decides whether it is orbital or sub-orbital. An orbital spacecraft must achieve what is known as orbital velocity, i.e., the speed that has to be maintained to stay in orbit around a planet, whereas a suborbital rocket flies at a speed below that and will not have to be powered to achieve an orbit. After the initial vertical lift-off, once the vehicle is above the atmosphere, it has to get into a horizontal trajectory and travel at a speed of about 28,000 km/h (almost 8 km/s) or more in order to orbit Earth. Any object travelling slower than 28,000 km/h would not enter orbit of the Earth, but will fall back to Earth. A space vehicle without enough energy to reach orbit will instead follow a parabolic trajectory, loop up, and then fall back.
Suborbital rockets are important for conducting tests of space missions, prior to the launch of the final commercial missions. They could be useful for experiments to study phenomena that are normally affected by the effects of gravity.
The first suborbital spaceflight was done in early 1944, when a V-2 test rocket was launched from Peenemunde in Germany, whereas the first crewed suborbital flight was the mission M3 Freedom-7 spacecraft in 1961.
Vikram-S, was developed over two years by incorporating advanced technologies, such as carbon composite structures and 3D-printed components.
Its length and diameter are 6m and 0.375m, respectively.
The rocket is equipped with a gross lift-off mass of 545 kg. It can carry a payload mass of 83 kg to an altitude of 100 km at a maximum speed of Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound).
Its peak vacuum thrust is 7 tonnes, and its peak combustion pressure is 90 bar. (Vacuum thrust is the thrust exerted in vacuum. As rockets carry an oxidiser on board, rockets can generate thrust in space where there is vacuum, and where there is no other source of oxygen.)
It is powered by India’s first carbon-fibre-built solid fuel engine, Kalam-80.
Its 3D-printed solid thrusters are for the spin stability of the launch vehicle.
It is said to be one of the world’s first few all-composite space launches.
According to Skyroot Aerospace, Vikram-S has an ultra-low shock pneumatic separation and, what is more, the rocket can be built within 72 hours and can be launched within 24 hours from any launch site.
Payloads on Vikram-S
Vikram-S carried three customer payloads, out of which two were Indian and one was foreign, i.e., Armenian.
One of the Indian payloads was the 2.5-kg Fun-Sat, built by the Chennai-based start-up, Space Kidz. It was developed by students from India, the US, Singapore, and Indonesia. Fun-Sat consisted of several experiments involving sensors and accelerometers put together by children from various countries. Space Kidz is an Indian aerospace start-up developing designs, fabrication and launch of the small satellites, spacecrafts and ground systems. The other Indian payload came from N Space Tech India, a space start-up based in Andhra Pradesh working on 1U CubeSat and Pico satellites for educational purposes. The Armenian payload was from BazoomQ, a space research lab working on CubeSat format satellite.
Aim of the Mission
The Vikram-S rocket was launched to help test and validate the majority of the technologies in the Vikram series of orbital space launch vehicles, including many sub-systems and technologies that would be tested across pre-lift-off and post-lift-off phases of the launch, according to the Skyroot spokesperson. It would demonstrate flight-proving of avionics systems in the Vikram series, like telemetry, tracking, inertial measurement, GPS, on-board camera, data acquisition, and power systems.
The Vikram series has three rockets that are being developed to launch small satellites.
Significance of the Mission
Mission Prarambh is historic, being the first of its kind, marking the entry of the private sector in rocket launches. Earlier, the space missions and launches were confined to the government space agencies in India. It is the first time that a rocket built by an Indian private space agency has been launched and has worked successfully. It may be recalled that the Government of India opened the space segment to the private entities in 2020, allowing them to build rockets and satellites and use the launch facilities of ISRO.
The rocket launch takes India a step forward in developing rockets indigenously in the private sector, besides being an important landmark in India’s start-up movement. ISRO’s chairperson, S. Somanath, has commented that around 100 start-ups have registered with ISRO and they are working with it on different domains.
Future Goals of Skyroot
Skyroot has planned the launch of three rockets in the Vikram series, namely, Vikram I, Vikram II and Vikram III. These are small-lift launch vehicles being developed to launch small satellites and will also help to support communication services such as broadband internet, GPS, IoT from space and earth imaging.
While Vikram-I will be carrying 480 kg of payload to low Earth orbit, Vikram-II will be equipped to lift off with 595 kg of cargo. Vikram-III will be launched with an 815 kg to 500 km low Inclination orbit.
Skyroot Aerospace Skyroot Aerospace was established on June 12, 2018 by Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka, both scientists who had worked with ISRO. It is the first Indian private company to have successfully test fired a full-scale liquid propulsion engine; built a 3D printed cryogenic engine in just two days; developed and successfully test fired a solid rocket stage; and signed an MoU with ISRO for access to ISRO facilities and expertise. (With this MoU, the company can undertake multiple tests and access facilities at various ISRO centres and also avail technical expertise of ISRO for testing and qualifying their space launch vehicle systems and subsystems.)
Other start-ups Several other start-ups are working in the private sector contributing to space technology.
Some of them are:
Dhruva Space Private Limited working with IN-SPACe for enabling space activities, like testing and launching of satellites and satellite components
Agnikul Cosmos Private Limited working with IN-SPACe to avail technical expertise of ISRO for testing and qualifying their space launch vehicle systems and subsystems
Digantara Aerospace which is space-based active orbital surveillance platform building one-stop solutions for space operations, and has successfully launched the world’s first commercial, space-based space weather monitoring system, ROBI (ROBust Integrating proton fluence meter) on board ISRO’s PSLV-C53
Pixxel Space India Private Limited working with ISRO to launch a remote sensing satellite
Satellize (earlier, Exceed Space) the first private Indian company to have their first satellite in space launched via SpaceX, and then their second satellite, AISAT, for a customer, AMSAT India, on board the PSLV-C45
Bellatrix Aerospace working with IN-SPACe to test their propulsion systems in space with the help of ISRO
SatSure Analytics working with IN-SPACe to collaborate with ISRO on geospatial data issues.
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