Mission Prarambh | Vikram-S launch at half the cost of US, European counterparts: Skyroot Aerospace’s Pawan Kumar Chandana

Pawan Kumar Chandana, cofounder of Skyroot Aerospace.

After the successful launch of the Vikram-S rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on November 18, Pawan Kumar Chandana, cofounder of Skyroot Aerospace, said that the company's launch costs were roughly half those of any US or European company.

"The unit cost for the launch was approximately 50 percent less than that of US and European companies. There are two big USPs for us, one is innovation and the other is the cost. When there is an innovative product that is cost-effective there is always demand," Chandana told Moneycontrol after the launch.

Chandana, when asked about the path to profitability for the startup, said that there will need to be a few more launches before the company can become profitable.

"It will take a few launches to become profitable. We expect to do enough launches within a year or two after the first one to become sustainable and profitable," he said.

In terms of launch frequency, Chandana said that the company is considering more than once a month to achieve sustainability.

Chandana said that the launch of Vikram-S provides the confidence needed to make Vikram-I, an orbital vehicle, faster.

"Vikram-I, an orbital vehicle, will be launched next year. It (the launch of Vikram-S) would make it much better because a good number of systems have been tested and a lot of technologies have been proven, giving us a lot of confidence that we can make Vikram-I faster," he said.

"Next year, Vikram-I will launch satellites into orbit, and the applications for these satellites are typically two: communication and Earth observation," he explained.

When asked about customers interested in sending satellites, Chandana stated that telecommunications will benefit the most, with thousands of satellites planned over the next five years.

"We have great customer interest; in fact, we want to get to orbit quickly and sustainably; that's the biggest mission for us, and once that's done, I think the lined-up customers will turn into revenue-generating orders," he added.

Vikram-S was launched into space with three customer payloads, reaching an altitude of approximately 90 kilometres.

"It was a wonderful launch today, with all the objectives met, and we are still reviewing the data. In fact, we wanted to achieve as high as 80 kilometres, but we achieved 89.5 kilometres, which is a good performance for the vehicle," Chandana said.