Indian Space tech Startup Skyroot Aerospace Successfully Test-Fires Rocket Engine

• Indian space tech startup Skyroot Aerospace successfully test-fired rocket engine.
• Skyroot Aerospace is the first private company to build the indigenous rocket engine.
• The company has now raised Rs31.5 crores this year after the government opened up the space sector for private participation.

Indian space tech startup Skyroot Aerospace successfully test-fired an upper-stage rocket engine, becoming the first-ever Indian private organization to a test-fires rocket engine.

The company Skyroot Aerospace was founded in 2018 by two IITIAN's and a former scientist of India Space Research Organization (ISRO) Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka. Till now the company has a funding amount of total $3.9 Million equivalents to 29 Crores INR.

The company is now looking to raise 90 crores to improve its development infrastructure and hire more workforce.

The company Skyroot Aerospace, backed by Curefit founders Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori, claimed that their 3D-printed rocket engine, named Raman after Indian scientist Dr. CV Raman, is capable of multiple attempts, enabling the launch vehicle to insert various satellites into multiple orbits in a single mission. 

Hyderabad based startup manufactures three types of launch vehicles Vikram I, II, and III which was named after Indian physicist and astronomer Vikram Sarabhai, the founder of ISRO. The first of these rockets would be able to launch satellites weighing 250-700 kg into the earth’s lower orbit. 

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Furthermore, Earlier this year cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Modi, the government decided to open up the space sector for the private participation for better infrastructure and to transform the sector. The government also approved the newly formed Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), which will act as an arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Moreover, It was said that IN-SPACe would be functioning within six months, and would provide a “level-playing field” to private companies in the country’s space programs. Through IN-SPACe, private companies would be guided with ISRO’s infrastructural, scientific and technical resources for the betterment of their space programs and missions.

According to the sources, There are currently 120 space technology startups that are active in India today. The push to privatization in the space sector has allowed new startups and businesses to invest in different space programs and missions. More than 60% of the space startups are founded after 2014.

“Skyroot has completed multiple test firings to qualify our solid propellant formulation. We have developed in house software for launch vehicle guidance, navigation, and control functions and testing for onboard avionics modules is in progress. We are targeting our first launch in December 2021,” said the company co-founder, Naga Bharath Daka.

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