Sriharikota, India \u2013 India\u2019s first privately built orbital rocket took its maiden flight on Saturday, its company said, marking a significant step for the South Asian giant as it eyes a bigger slice of the global space economy.<\/p>\n
The Vikram-1 rocket, built by Skyroot Aerospace and designed to carry small satellites into low-Earth orbit, took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota amid loud cheers.<\/p>\n
\u201cHello space, we have arrived!\u201d Skyroot Aerospace said in a post on X. \u201cVikram-1\u2019s Test Flight-1 has completed its mission. The first ever Indian private sector launch has been successfully completed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vikram-1 is about as tall as a seven-story building and capable of carrying payloads weighing up to 350 kilograms (771 pounds).<\/p>\n
Pawan Goenka, chairman of the government\u2019s Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre, said the achievement went \u201cway beyond expectation for the very first orbital launch ever taken by an Indian private company\u201c.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the endeavor as \u201ca defining moment in India\u2019s space journey\u201c.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe growing participation of our private sector is opening new frontiers and accelerating innovation,\u201d Modi said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis achievement will encourage countless youngsters to dream bigger and innovate fearlessly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rocket is carrying a diverse range of payloads, including a lab-grown diamond and robotic arms capable of removing space debris.<\/p>\n
A miniature 18-karat gold rocket that has mini sculptures of Indian physicists Vikram Sarabhai, CV Raman and former Indian president and noted aerospace engineer APJ Abdul Kalam is also aboard the vehicle.<\/p>\n
India\u2019s space ambitions, built on decades of investment by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), have gathered pace in recent years.<\/p>\n
The country\u2019s space economy \u2014 valued at around $8.4 billion \u2014 has rapidly expanded since the sector opened up to private players in 2020, and is now home to more than 400 space startups.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndia\u2019s space ambitions soar to new heights!\u201d Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said after the successful launch.<\/p>\n
In August 2023, India became only the fourth country to successfully land an unmanned spacecraft on the Moon, after Russia, the United States and China.<\/p>\n
Former ISRO chairman K. Sivan hailed the work done by space startups, adding that the country was witnessing the \u201cfruits of the seeds sown\u201d when it opened up the sector to private players.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Skyroot especially, the rocket is one of the most challenging and complex technologies in the space system… It is going to motivate many people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Sivan added that \u201cthere is no doubt\u201d the launch will have a global impact.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf an Indian startup can make one of the most challenging things in the space industry, then it gives a huge boost to India\u2019s reputation globally.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sriharikota, India \u2013 India\u2019s first privately built orbital rocket took its maiden flight on Saturday, its company said,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[290,8,33,14568,458],"class_list":["post-60477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-japan","tag-india","tag-japan","tag-nihon","tag-rockets","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}