India's Skyroot set for first private orbital launch with Vikram-1 rocket

Skyroot Aerospace, India's first space-technology unicorn after reaching a $1.1bn valuation, is set to launch its Vikram-1 rocket from the Indian Space Research Organisation's (Isro) facility in Sriharikota on Saturday, in what would be the country's first privately developed orbital launch, according to the BBC [https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyekv7rld3o].

The seven-storey rocket is scheduled for lift-off at 11:30 India time (06:00 GMT) on a roughly 16-minute flight to Low Earth Orbit about 280 miles (450km) away, carrying a payload capacity of up to 350kg, the company's co-founder and CEO Pawan Kumar Chandana told the BBC [https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyekv7rld3o].

If the flight succeeds, Skyroot would become the first Indian private company to reach orbit, making India only the third country — after the United States and China — with a private firm capable of orbital launches, the BBC reported [https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyekv7rld3o].

The test mission, called Aagman ("arrival"), aims to place six payloads into orbit, including a robotic arm for removing space debris, an Earth-observation camera and a satellite from a German company, alongside symbolic items such as a lotus made of lab-grown diamonds and a tiny gold rocket bearing micro-sculptures of scientists including CV Raman and former president APJ Abdul Kalam [https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyekv7rld3o].

Skyroot says the launch advances its goal of offering a "cab service to space" — dedicated, on-demand small-satellite missions — and the company estimates 70–80% of its market would be global, as India seeks to lift its share of the commercial space market from about 2% today to 10% by 2030 after opening the sector to private firms in 2020 [https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyekv7rld3o].

The flight is the first of two test launches Skyroot plans this year before moving to commercial service in 2027, and comes as India's national programme — which has notched Moon, Mars and solar missions — plans crewed flights next year, a Venus orbiter by 2028 and its own space station by 2035 [https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyekv7rld3o].

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