Union Minister of State for the Ministry of Science and Technology Jitendra Singh on Tuesday unveiled Skyroot Aerospace’s new headquarters, ‘MAX-Q’ at GMR Aerospace and Industrial Park, Hyderabad. He also unveiled the Vikram-1 Orbital Launch Vehicle.

Addressing the media, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said, “India has a large pool of resources both talent-wise and industrial-wise. So once it opened up to public-private participation, Skyroot was the first to launch a rocket called Vikram S, and I’m glad that within a few months, they had graduated to the next level. They now have their own rocket manufacturing unit, which is, in fact, the largest in India and one of the largest in the world. This means that there is a huge amount of talent, a huge amount of potential, and a huge amount of space capability waiting to happen in our young minds.”

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“However, they were not getting the kind of enabling value that was required at the level of the policy plan. Prime Minister Modi has given that today we are in a position where India is no longer seen as a country led by other countries but we are now giving leads to other countries at least in the space sector. Chandrayaan 3 is in the Southern Pole, the virgin area and gathering inputs which are being awaited by the rest of the world,” he added.

He added, “They (the private sector) are no longer going to confine themselves to only launching but also technology. The talent they have demonstrated is world-class. The performance is world-class. We have proved to the world that we can live up to the global parameters. We can compete globally, and we can excel globally. The world has now also begun to accept that.”

He further said, “All this has been possible because of the reform that has been brought about in the last 3-4 years. The space sector, as the media very fancifully described, has been unlocked. When the Aditya launch happened, we had 10,000 spectators right at the site of the launch. When the Chandrayaan happened, we had 1000 media persons. The whole nation is now owning up to this sector and this is going to add huge value addition to our economy. The future belongs to these young entrepreneurs.”

Speaking on Gaganyaan, he said, “With regard to Gaganyaan, we wanted to have a 2020 timeline, which we missed because of COVID. As of now, you have seen the TV-D1 trial launch on October 21. Now as we have planned, if we move that way successfully, we’ll have a series of these test vehicle launches, then a human ship, then a robo before a few months of the final which will be around 2025.”

Skyroot Aerospace COO, Head Avionics & GNC, Naga Bharath, speaking to ANI, said, “We are expecting to launch Vikram-1 in the early months of next year. The toughest milestone for any rocket company is to reach orbit and we are aiming to achieve it by early next year. Once we achieve that with our Vikram-1-1 launch vehicle, the aim is to make it more cost-effective by mass production or any other techniques we apply. So that the cost of getting to space through Vikram-1 will be as affordable as possible for our customers and as sustainable as possible for us.”

Skyroot Aerospace CEO and CTO, Pawan Kumar, said, “Vikram S is a test rocket. It’s a smaller vehicle that was launched into space. It only has 80 per cent of the tech of the Vikram-1 rocket but on a smaller scale. So Vikram-1 is a massive vehicle. It needs a technology upgrade and also like the 20 per cent technology left out in the Vikram S, also needs to be proven, which is also very critical for the rocket. In the last few years, we have spent a lot of time building Vikram-1 and also lot of expertise which is built with Vikram S has also been utilized. For example, this vehicle is an all-carbon fiber rocket. It really reduces the mass of the vehicle, and increases the efficiency of the vehicle. We use it in 3D printing. A major difference between Vikram S and Vikram-1 is Vikram-1 is a highly commercial vehicle. It can have good revenue generation opportunities in the future. Vikram-1 is our way ahead and Vikram S is a path towards it.”

He added, “The first thing is that we want to launch Vikram-1 successfully. It might take a few launches to reach full capacity and full commercial viability. Once we do those launches, we’ll immediately go regular commercial launches, and we’ll do more and more launches per year. Then scale to much bigger vehicles and expand.”

Speaking about the policies of the government on the private sector in the Space industry, he said, “I think the policy is all in place. So we have a new agency called IN-SPACe, which is under the Department of Space for promoting and licencing private sector activities. It is a big move for India. I think that is one of the key strengths of India, as our policy is very strong in space and our industry is very strong. Our supplier ecosystem is very strong, and our startups are also now getting very strong. I think it’s a very good ecosystem which has been built with the right decision by the government to open up the sector to private players.”

He added, “Our launch has made India one of the first four countries in the world where private sector companies are able to launch a rocket into space. It shows the importance of this kind of capability being built in the country. We will become forerunners in the industry. Already ISRO is doing really well globally. It is one of the largest, one of the most successful space agencies in the world and the most cost-efficient. I think it’s a great journey ahead for India in space because we’re already pioneers.”