A Cab Ride To Orbit? How Skyroot’s Vikram-1 Could Be A Game Changer For Small Satellites

Published 18 July 2026 · local

A Cab Ride To Orbit? How Skyroot’s Vikram-1 Could Be A Game Changer For Small Satellites Published By, Last Updated: July 18, 2026, 10:42 IST

A Cab Ride To Orbit? How Skyroot’s Vikram-1 Could Be A Game Changer For Small Satellites Published By, Last Updated: July 18, 2026, 10:42 IST Unlike rideshare missions on larger rockets, Vikram-1 aims to offer small satellites a launch tailored to their schedule and required orbit. Skyroot Aerospace co-founders Pawan Chandana and Naga Bharat Daka. (Image: X/@PawanKChandana) What if launching a satellite were as simple as booking a cab — allowing customers to choose when it leaves and where it goes instead of waiting for space on a much larger rocket? That is the idea behind Skyroot Aerospace’s Vikram-1, which is scheduled to lift off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 11.30 am on Saturday. The launch, part of Mission Aagaman, will mark Skyroot’s first attempt to place payloads into orbit. If the 16-minute flight succeeds, the Hyderabad-based company will become the first Indian private firm to launch a rocket into orbit. It would also place India alongside the United States and China as countries with private companies capable of conducting orbital launches. Beyond that milestone, Vikram-1 will test a model Skyroot describes as a “cab service to space" — offering small-satellite operators dedicated launches tailored to their schedules and required orbits. What Does Skyroot’s ‘Cab Service To Space’ Mean? Small satellites are frequently launched as secondary payloads aboard larger rockets. This means their operators must work around the schedule and destination of the main mission. A customer may have to wait months or even years for a suitable launch opportunity and may not be able to choose the precise orbit in which its satellite is deployed. Skyroot wants Vikram-1 to offer an alternative: a smaller rocket that customers can book for a dedicated launch to an orbit suited to their satellite. “If you want to just go to a friend’s house, you don’t need a train, you book a cab, an Uber.

What we are offering is a cab service to space, which can be used to ride to a unique location in the orbit to place a satellite or visit a station," Skyroot co-founder and CEO Pawan Kumar Chandana told the BBC. If the model works, it would be broadly similar to that of US-based Rocket Lab, which provides small-lift launch vehicles. Why Small Satellites Need Dedicated Launches Small satellites support services ranging from Earth observation, communications and navigation to agriculture, fisheries, disaster management and national security. However, Chandana told the BBC that access to space remains “a major bottleneck, with satellite operators often waiting for months or even years for a launch opportunity". Vikram-1 has been designed to carry payloads of up to 350 kg to Low Earth Orbit. The seven-storey rocket is expected to head towards an orbit about 450 km above Earth during Saturday’s mission. Its capacity makes it suitable for customers who do not require the payload space of a much larger rocket but want a launch planned around their own mission. What Vikram-1 Will Carry On Mission Aagaman Mission Aagaman, named after the Sanskrit word for “arrival", is expected to carry six payloads into orbit. These include an Earth observation camera, satellites including one from a German company, and a robotic arm designed to help remove space debris. The mission will also carry two symbolic objects linked to Indian science and creativity. One is Cosmic Bloom, a lotus made from lab-grown diamonds and developed by Cosmos Diamonds. Chandana described it as an artist’s tribute to space and a celebration of India’s creativity. The other is a tiny gold rocket containing micro-sculptures of three figures closely associated with Indian science and the country’s space programme — Nobel Prize-winning physicist CV Raman, former president and aerospace scientist APJ Abdul Kalam, and Vikram Sarabhai, regarded as the father of India’s space programme.