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Stage-2 test a success, Skyroot closer to India’s first private orbital rocket launch

Stage-2 test a success, Skyroot closer to India’s first private orbital rocket launch

Vikram-1 is a three-stage, solid-fuel based rocket. Testing of the “second stage” is significant because this stage propels satellites from the dense atmosphere of Earth to the deep vacuum of outer space.

Space-tech company Skyroot Aerospace has successfully test-fired the second stage of its rocket Vikram-1, the company said Thursday, a major landmark that pushes it closer to India’s first private orbital rocket launch in mid-2024.

Vikram-1 is a three-stage, solid-fuel based rocket. Testing of the “second stage” is significant because this stage propels satellites from the dense atmosphere of Earth to the deep vacuum of outer space.

“This is a significant milestone for the Indian space industry, marking the successful test of the largest propulsion system ever designed and manufactured by the Indian private sector so far, and the first carbon-composite-built motor tested at ISRO,” said Pawan Chandana, co-founder and CEO of Skyroot Aerospace.

“All test parameters are within expected bounds, and this achievement takes us another step closer to the upcoming orbital launch of the Vikram-1 rocket,” he added.

The test was conducted Wednesday at the propulsion testbed of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) at its Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, Skyroot said.

It lasted 85 seconds and recorded a peak thrust at sea-level of 186 kilonewtons (kN), which will translate to about 235kN during flight in vacuum, the company said.

Skyroot had in 2022 carried out a sub-orbital launch — taking payloads just to the edge of outer space — with its single-stage rocket Vikram-S.

Earlier this week, the sub-orbital launch by another private space company, Agnikul, was postponed after a rehearsal.

Apart from the “second-stage” testing of Vikram-1, the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre shared its proprietary head-mounted safe arm (HMSA), an electromechanical device that enables or disables triggering of the explosive systems in a rocket to operate it safely.

This comes days after the first sub-orbital launch by the second private launch provider Agnikul was postponed after a rehearsal.

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