India made history on Friday, November 18, when Skyroot Aerospace’s suborbital rocket Vikram-S, the nation’s first private-sector rocket, was launched. Three CubeSats were launched at 11:30 am from Sriharikota’s Satish Dhawan Space Center as part of the ‘Prarambh’ project (The beginning).
Vikram-S, a single-stage spin-stabilized solid propellant rocket with a payload of around 550 kg, launched on Friday with the goal of carrying out the Prarambh mission as high as it could go. The mission profile states that Vikram-S will launch in 139 seconds, reach a maximum altitude of 81.5 km in 139 seconds, and splash down into the ocean in 290 seconds, roughly 116 km from the launch site. After the Center opened the sector to private companies in 2020, Skyroot Aerospace made history by becoming the first commercial business to support India’s space programme.
All about Vikram-S and ‘Prarambh’
According to the brochure from Skyroot, the Vikram-S rocket is a single-stage suborbital small satellite launch vehicle that is six metres tall and weighs 545 kilogrammes. The 0.4 m-diameter rocket can carry 83 kg of cargo to an altitude of 100 km at a maximum speed of Mach 5. It has a maximum vacuum thrust of 7 tonnes (five times the speed of sound). Skyroot claims to be ‘one of the world’s first few all composite space launch vehicles’ and contains solid thrusters that were 3D printed for spin stability. It was created in a record-breaking two years and is driven by the solid-fueled propulsion system of the Kalam 80 engine.
Regarding the ‘Prarambh’ mission, it would validate for use on additional Vikram series orbital rockets and test around 80% of the technology utilised in Vikram-S. In 2023, Vikram-1, one of the rockets, is planned to launch on its initial orbital trip. Three payloads, two from India and one from Armenia, will be launched from Vikram-S. The CubeSats from SpaceKidz India and N-Space Tech India are the Indian payloads, while the Armenian payload is called BazoomQ.
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