India's first privately built rocket, Vikram-S, launched by ISRO

Tags: Science and Technology

India's first ever private  Vikram-S (Suborbital) rocket was launched on 18 November from  the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.

Important facts

• The rocket reached an altitude of 89.5 km with three payloads weighing a total of 83 kilograms.

• Vikram-S, designed by Skyroot Aerospace as a tribute to the father of the country's space programme, Vikram Sarabhai, successfully completed its maiden mission.

• Skyroot Aerospace has become the first privately owned rocket manufacturing company in India after the Center opened up the space sector to private players in 2020.

• This first mission of Skyroot Aerospace has been named 'Prarambh'.

• The rocket after taking off from Sriharikota splashed down safely in the waters of the Bay of Bengal, about 115 km away.

• Two indigenous and one foreign payloads are also going on this rocket. This six metre high rocket is the world's first all composite rocket. It has 3D-pretended solids to handle its spin capability.

• Through this rocket, avionics, telemetry, tracking, inertial measurement, global positioning system, onboard camera, data acquisition and power system will be tested.

• It is a sub-orbital flight carrying satellites from Chennai-based space startup SpaceKidz, Andhra Pradesh-based N-SpaceTech and Armenia's BazoomQ Space Research Lab.