Indian launch vehicle makers Skyroot Aerospace and Agnikul Cosmos are expected to make seven launches between 2024 and early 2025, a manifesto released by space regulator Indian Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) said on February 8. These launches include the space tech startups' first respective commercial missions.
As of now, Hyderabad's Skyroot is the only private player to launch for space. Their Vikram-S vehicle, launched in 2022, acted as a tech demonstrator. Since then, the startup has been working on their orbital Vikram-1 launch vehicle.
On the other hand, Chennai-based Agnikul Cosmos is expected to launch their Agnibaan-Sorted launch vehicle soon. This, like Skyroot's Vikram-S, will be a sub-orbital mission and will act as a tech demonstrator/validator for the startup.
The launch manifesto released by IN-SPACe says that Agnibaan-Sorted will launch in the last quarter of FY 2023-24. A specific timeframe was missing.
Commercial debuts
In the first quarter of FY 2024-25 , Skyroot is slated to launch Vikram-1, signifying their first commercial mission. In fact, according to IN-SPACe's manifesto, the startup is expected to launch Vikram-1 in the next three following quarters.
Quarter 3 of FY 2024-25 will also see Agnikul Cosmos' first foray into commercial missions, with the startup slated to launch their Agnibaan launch vehicle. The Chennai-based rocket maker is also expected to launch in Q4 of FY 2024-25, the manifesto shows.
The manifesto said, "The key NGE (non-governmental entity) highlights for this period include planned Sub-Orbital and Orbital launches by M/s Agnikul Cosmos and M/s Skyroot Aerospace. Few of the NGEs facilitated for their satellite launch requirements include M/s Digantara Research & Technology, M/s Dhruvaspace, M/s Space Kidz India and academic institutes..."
In total, about 30 launches are planned for 2023-2024 (Q4) and 2024-2025 from Sriharikota, the manifesto said. Apart from that, seven test launches of India's human flight mission Gaganyaan are also scheduled during the period, it said.
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