Skyroot wants to kickstart private spaceflight in India with first rocket launch next week

Skyroot is aiming to launch India's first privately developed rocket as early as next week in order to make history.

The first launch of the suborbital rocket could take place as early as November 12. The Indian Space Research Organization has a space centre in Sriharikota. The weather can affect the final date.

The vehicle is a suborbital vehicle. The demonstration mission is called Prarambh, which means "the beginning" in Sanskrit. The details on the payloads were not made public. The founder of India's space program is the subject of a series of launch vehicles being developed by Skyroot. Skyroot COO and co- founder Naga Bharath Daka said in a statement that the Vikram-S suborbital rocket will be used to test the technologies used in the series.

India has a national space program but a relatively small private space sector. In June 2020, the government passed major reforms to the space sector, including establishing the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center to facilitate private companies. The government set up a commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organization. The OneWeb satellites were launched on an Indian rocket.

Skyroot announced last month that it had raised $51 million in financing. The startup has $68 million in funding, making it the most well-funded Indian space startup.