India’s first private launch vehicle all set for its maiden flight
- November 9, 2022
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
No Comments
India’s first private launch vehicle all set for its maiden flight
Subject: Science and Technology
Context-
- India’s first privately developed launch vehicle – Hyderabad-based Skyroot’s Vikram-S – is all set to make its maiden flight from the country’s only spaceport in Sriharikota between November 12 and 16.
Skyroot aerospace-
- A private start-up in the Space sector was co-founded by — C. Pawan Kumar (IIT-Kharagpur, 2012 batch) and Naga Bharath D. (IIT-Madras, 2012 batch).
Mission Prarambh and the Vikram-S rocket-
- The mission named ‘Prarambh’ will see Vikram-S carry three customer satellites in a sub-orbital flight.
- The Vikram-S rocket is a single-stage sub-orbital launch vehicle which will carry three customer payloads and help test and validate technologies in the Vikram series space launch vehicles.
- The mission will help the company test its systems in space.
- The company is designing three Vikram rockets that will use various solid and cryogenic fuels to carry between 290 kg and 560 kg payloads to sun-synchronous polar orbits.
- In comparison, India’s workhorse PSLV can carry up to 1,750kg to such an orbit while the newly-developed small satellite launch vehicle – meant for carrying smaller commercial satellites – can carry up to 300 kg to sun-synchronous orbit.
What is a sub-orbital flight-
- Sub-orbital flight, just like the ones undertaken by Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson, are those vehicles which are travelling slower than orbital velocity – meaning it is fast enough to reach outer space but not fast enough to stay in an orbit around the Earth.
Other private sector participation in the Space sector-
- Although Skyroot will be the first private company to launch its rocket, others are not far behind.
- Agnikul Cosmos, whose semi-cryogenic Agnilet engine was test-fired for 15 seconds on Tuesday at Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO’s) vertical testing facility at Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS), Thiruvananthapuram.
- ISRO’s Small Satellite Launch Vehicles (SSLV) are also likely to be manufactured and operated by private players soon.
- As for private satellite missions, ISRO’s heaviest launch vehicle Mark III launched 36 One Web satellites (India’s Bharti is a stakeholder).
- The space agency will be launching another fleet of 36 satellites for the company as well.
- Other than that, the space agency has also launched at least four satellites made by students.
India’s Space sector-
- The Indian Space Sector has been globally recognised for building cost-effective satellites and taking foreign satellites to space.
- Currently, India constitutes 2-3% of the global space economy and is expected to enhance its share to more than 10% by 2030.
- As part of India’s commitment to the Geneva Conference on Disarmament, the country continues to advocate peaceful and civilian use of outer space and oppose any weaponization of space capabilities or programs.
SAMVAD Program:
- To encourage and nurture space research among young minds, ISRO launched its Student Outreach Program called SAMVAD at its Bengaluru facility.
Current Challenges Related to the Space sector in India-
- The government plays the dual role of regulator and commercial executor, which has led to significant bottlenecks in the participation of the private sector.
- Also, due to this the private sector remains concerned about sharing its intellectual property with the government.
- If no regulatory framework is put in place, rising commercialisation will lead to monopolisation in the future.
- As outer space expeditions increase, more space debris will accumulate.
- Space Debris can also lead to ozone depletion.
- Compared to other countries, the Chinese space industry has grown rapidly.
- It has successfully launched its own navigation system, BeiDou.
- It is very likely that China’s Belt Road Initiative (BRI) members will contribute to or join the Chinese space sector, solidifying China’s global position.