Pradeep's Space Newsletter

Share this post
Pradeep's Space Newsletter #45
pradx.substack.com

Pradeep's Space Newsletter #45

Skyroot's Prarambh

Pradeep Mohandas
Nov 24, 2022
1
Share this post
Pradeep's Space Newsletter #45
pradx.substack.com

A couple of days before the fifty-fifth anniversary of the first Indian-built sounding rocket launch, a Hyderabad-based private space company, Skyroot Aerospace became the first private Indian company to launch a sounding rocket from the Sounding Rocket Complex at the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota.

Journey to the Launchpad

Pawan Chandana and Bharat Daka started Skyroot Aerospace in 2018. They were joined by a group of former scientists from India’s civilian space and defence establishment. They raised seed funding of $1.5 million from Mukesh Bansal in June 2018.

On 22 December 2020, they tested a scaled-down version of their solid-fuel engine, Kalam 5. They followed the test with a full-duration test of the Kalam 100, the engine that would fly on their launch vehicle, Vikram 1 on 19 May 2022.

The Government of India liberalized India’s space sector in an announcement by India’s finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman on 16 May 2020. “Indian private sector will be a co-traveler in India’s space journey,” she said.

The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) was created in June 2020 to be a single-window agency to promote, authorize and “supervise” non-governmental space entities in India. IN-SPACe authorized the launch of Skyroot’s rocket, Vikram-S on 7 November 2022.

Mission patch of Skyroot Aerospace’s Prarambh mission of its Vikram-S rocket. Source: Skyroot Aerospace.

Vikram-S

Vikram-S is a sounding rocket. A sounding rocket is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight.

It has a Kalam 80 solid fuel engine. The rocket was scheduled to fly from the Sounding Rocket Complex, Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota on 15 November 2022. Skyroot paid an undisclosed amount for “integration facilities, range communications, and tracking support before and during the rocket launch”.

The sounding rocket carried three payloads from SpaceKidz India, N Space Tech India, and Bazoomq from Armenia. These payloads flew with Vikram-S and were destroyed with the rocket.

Weather played spoilsport and delayed the launch to 18 November 2022.

Lift-off

The flight profile of the mission included a flight to an altitude of 81.5 km. This crosses the McDowell line that sets the boundary of space at 80 km. The profile anticipated splashdown of the rocket 115.6 km in the Bay of Bengal.

Flight profile of the Vikram-S flight. Source: Skyroot Aerospace.

The rocket slid along the rails of the launch pad and flew off the launch pad. The actual flight lifted off at 11:30 am (IST) on 18 November 2022. The four 3D-printed solid-fuel spin stabilization system fired a little while after the sounding rocket left the launching rails.

Vikram-S after lift-off. Note the smoke from the spin stabilization system mid-body of the rocket. Source: ISRO.

The rocket flew to an altitude of 89.5 km in 155 seconds. Skyroot had already stated that it saw the rocket crossing an altitude of 50 km as success.

The historic event was covered by a very poor webcast experience.

Thanks for reading Pradeep's Space Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

ISRO Updates

  • Mission Prarambh

  • ISRO Completes Major Development Test of its Gaganyaan Parachute System

  • Honourable former President Shri Ram Nath Kovind witnesses the 200th successive successful launch of RH200 - the workhorse sounding rocket of ISRO

YouTube Updates

Media Updates

  • How Chennai space start-up Agnikul will use a truck and four caravans to launch satellites

  • Astrome demonstrates first 4G call made through an E-band link with Astrome’s backhaul device, Gigamesh.

Space Tweets

Twitter avatar for @PixxelSpace
Pixxel @PixxelSpace
The day that everyone at Pixxel has been working towards for more than 2 years is finally here! We’re thrilled to announce the scheduled launch of ‘Anand’, Pixxel’s third hyperspectral satellite, aboard the ISRO PSLV-C54 on November 26th. Stay tuned for more updates!
Image
8:34 AM ∙ Nov 21, 2022
1,367Likes175Retweets
Twitter avatar for @PixxelSpace
Pixxel @PixxelSpace
More than two years in the making and made with a lot of dedication and effort, the team can’t wait for the satellite to finally go to space and beam down some amazing #hyperspectral data. The countdown has begun!
Image
9:39 AM ∙ Nov 22, 2022
318Likes36Retweets
Twitter avatar for @PixxelSpace
Pixxel @PixxelSpace
How it started vs how it’s going. 3 days to launch! Stay tuned for more updates.
Image
Image
1:26 PM ∙ Nov 23, 2022
307Likes27Retweets
Twitter avatar for @DhruvaSpace
Dhruva Space @DhruvaSpace
As we prepare for our upcoming #ThyboltMission onboard #ISRO's PSLV C54 on 26 Nov we are also over-the-moon to reveal our mission patch. It is momentous that on the same day, we will be observing 10 years of Dhruva Space! Read more: bit.ly/3Ou9HEX
Dhruva Space's Thybolt Mission patch featuring the PSLV C54, two nanosatellites and a Deployerer
4:00 PM ∙ Nov 22, 2022
568Likes64Retweets
Twitter avatar for @strocast
Astrocast @strocast
A team of @strocast space engineers travelled to India to get our nanosatellites ready to be launched with @spaceflight’s mission aboard #PSLVC54 rocket. 📺Have you seen our Astrocast Mission Patch for PSLV-C54? Check it out: youtu.be/xl16jDm9nx0 #SatIoT #NewSpace #satcomms
Image
Image
Image
Image
2:41 PM ∙ Nov 23, 2022
17Likes3Retweets
Twitter avatar for @isro
ISRO @isro
Honorable former President Shri Ram Nath Kovind witnessed the 200th successive successful launch of RH200 which took off at 11.55 AM IST today, November 23, 2022, from TERLS Launchpad.
Image
Image
Image
Image
4:14 PM ∙ Nov 23, 2022
1,410Likes135Retweets
Twitter avatar for @isro
ISRO @isro
On November 18, 2022, ISRO conducted the Integrated Main Parachute Airdrop Test (IMAT) of its crew module deceleration system at the Babina Field Fire Range in Jhansi district, Uttar Pradesh isro.gov.in/Gaganyaan_Para… (1/3)
Image
2:15 PM ∙ Nov 19, 2022
4,561Likes453Retweets

Share this post
Pradeep's Space Newsletter #45
pradx.substack.com
Comments
TopNewCommunity

No posts

Ready for more?

© 2023 Pradeep Mohandas
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great writing