India’s Skyroot launches low-cost mini rocket into space

Indian start-up Skyroot wants to target the market of lower-cost low-orbit launches.

Experienced aerospace engineers

Skyroot, India’s first ever commercial spaceflight company, was founded by a number of veterans of India’s National Space Agency ISRO. ISRO has already succeeded in launching rockets to Mars for extremely low costs. These veterans have of course taken this knowledge with them. This means that Skyroot will eventually become a formidable competitor for SpaceX, let alone even more expensive space companies such as Arianespace and Roskosmos.

Skyroot’s first rocket launch successful

November 18, 2022 Skyroot managed to launch their first rocket, the Vikram-S, into space. This rocket, with a height of 6 m and a diameter of 37.5 cm, reached an altitude of 89.5 km. Obviously this is too little for really serious space applications, but this is only a first prototype.

The larger version, the Vikram 1, will be able to carry a 480 kg payload to an altitude of 500 km in a low-inclination orbit. The follow-up versions also planned, the Vikram 2 and Vikram 3, will be able to deliver slightly heavier payloads at this height.

Sweetspot for satellites

This altitude of around 500 km is popular with satellite builders, because the vacuum here is already quite high and satellites do not come into contact with the dangerous radiation of the Van Allen belt at an altitude of 700 km. In that respect, Skyroot’s Vikram missile series will be very interesting for smaller and poorer countries. Or for smaller companies that also want to do something with space travel.

From $5000 to $1000 per kilo: Skyroot

Launch costs are now around $5,000 per kilogram of launch weight. This is the amount that SpaceX also charges. In time, Skyroot wants to bring these costs down to $1,000 per kilo. By comparison, it costs 200,000 times as much, 200 million a month, to keep the International Space Station in orbit.

The Indians achieve this by mass-producing these missiles. As a result, the costs per rocket will drop considerably. They also want to develop reusable rockets. In short, space travel will become a lot cheaper. That’s good news, because that way colonizing space becomes a lot more affordable.