The Vikram-S launch opens exciting possibilities for space exploration in India
- November 19, 2022
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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The Vikram-S launch opens exciting possibilities for space exploration in India
Subject: Science and Technology
Context-
- On Friday, India’s space programme accomplished a landmark when the country’s first privately-developed rocket lifted off from ISRO’s launch pad in Sriharikota.
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.
Private participation in Space sector-
- According to industry data, India has more than 350 private firms in the space sector making it the fifth-largest in the world in this respect after the US, UK, Canada and Germany.
- But the country’s share in the global space economy is barely 3 per cent.
- The government intends to increase this to 10 per cent by 2030.
Space sector start-ups-
- In June 2020, it approved the participation of private players in all sectors of space activity — earlier they could only be vendors or suppliers.
- It also instituted the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre, a unit of ISRO, to enable private companies to become independent players.
- Skyroot, Agnikul cosmos and Pixxon are start-ups in this sector.
- Agnikul Cosmos, a Chennai-based start-up, is planning the commercial launch of its rocket Agnibaan in the first quarter of next year.
- Last week, the company test-fired its first rocket engine — manufactured in one go, unlike conventional engines which are assembled using thousands of parts — from the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram.
Companies such as Skyroot and Agnikool promise cost-efficiency as well as innovation.