Skyroot Aerospace plans to launch Vikram-1 in one year

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Skyroot Aerospace, which successfully launched the country's first private rocket Vikram-S recently, plans to launch Vikram-1, a much bigger rocket to place satellites into orbit, within a year.

The Hyderabad-based space startup also aims to slash costs of space travel in the future.

"..now that we have done first private rocket launch, Vikram-S, our next plan is to launch Vikram-1 which is a much bigger rocket putting satellites into orbit. That we want to do within a year from now," Pawan Chandana, co-founder of Skyroot, told PTI on Monday evening.

Skyroot also wants to become one of the first few companies in the world who can place satellites into orbit.

He said the firm has raised about USD 68 million, which is the largest in the aerospace startup ecosystem in India.

"Of course, it took close to four years to raise this kind of capital. Now, we are good for first few launches to orbit and then, of course, it has been very challenging because first time somebody went to the market and raised such large capital," Chandana said.

Skyroot would keep on raising more capital in its journey forward and would like to generate a good amount of revenue as it starts launching from next year, he said.

Noting that space travel is expensive now, he said his firm aims to slash costs, make it affordable and increase reliability.

"Today, biggest problem is that space travel is very costly. Because, rockets, the only way to go to space are very unreliable. Sometimes, they don't work and also very expensive. They fall in the sea and then you are building something, throwing it away. It's very costly," he said.

The Blue Origin of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos started offering services such as space travel and it may take up to 10 years to become a reality from an Indian perspective, he added.

India on November 18 successfully launched its first privately made rocket, developed by four year-old Skyroot, marking the entry of the private sector into the country's space ecosystem, which is currently dominated by the state-run behemoth ISRO.