As of January 27th, 2022, Skyroot Aerospace raised $17 million to fund the upcoming launch in the current year. The Vikram-1 rocket which is supposed to be launched towards the end of this year, has a solid propulsion engine known as Kalam-5 to power the vehicle. More about the Skyroot Aerospace in this brief write-up.
Skyroot Aerospace and Their Rocket Launch
Skyroot Aerospace, a private Indian tech-driven space startup, is building a rocket for commercial missions, announced by a bridge funding round of $4.5 million. It is gearing up for the test launch of the rocket Vikram later in the year.
The funds will be used to build “critical infrastructure” to facilitate the launch of the Vikram rocket, as per Naga Bharath Daka, Skyroot Aerospace’s co-founder.
This startup has raised as much as $17 million to fund the launch of the Vikram-1 rocket powered by Kalam-5, which is a solid propulsion engine. Skyroot Aerospace December 2020 showcased its engine.
Dhawan-1, the company’s second stage rocket engine, is the first of its kind and is fully 3D printed cryogenic was showcased in November 2021. Vikram-2 is the second rocket that Skyroot Aerospace is developing.
More efficient fuels like LNG or liquified natural gas are used by the cryogenic rockets, as well as Lox or liquid oxygen stored at cryogenic temperatures below 150 degrees Celsius. Such engines are more efficient than solid propulsion rocket engines since more thrust is provided to the rockets by these engines but make use of lesser overall energy compared to reliable propulsion technology.
More on Their Plans in 2022
In an earlier conversation in December 2021 with Mint, the company’s chief executive officer, Pawan Kumar Chandana revealed that the company plans to eye a single launch in 2022 that will unveil Vikram-1 rocket’s sustainability for being used for affordable space missions commercially.
Skyroot Aerospace in India is joined by another fellow private startup (space tech), Agnikul Cosmos. The latter is eyeing the launch of the first rocket, Agnibaan, in the middle of 2022. However, compared to Skyroot Aerospace, which is planning for a single launch towards the end of 2022, Agnikul is eyeing two launches, as revealed by the company’s chief operating officer, Moin SPM, as said in an interview with Mint in November 2021.
Both Agnikul Cosmos and Skyroot Aerospace have claimed that the rocket engines are 3D printed, which offers flexibility to produce engines as required by demand. While Agnikul has revealed that it is also working with satellite companies and have them on its client list, nothing similar has been said by Skyroot. It remains unclear to date related to the first launch of the company.
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