The race for low Earth orbit: What the launch of Vikram-1 means for India
Skyroot Aerospace, a private Hyderabad-based firm, launched its Vikram-1 rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, placing a payload into a roughly 450 km Low Earth Orbit on its debut flight
The launch was carried out under authorisation from IN-SPACe, the regulatory body created to enable private participation in India's space sector
The mission carried cubesats built by Skyroot and by another Indian space startup, demonstrating an emerging domestic private launch supply chain
With this launch, India becomes the third country — after the United States and China — where a privately developed rocket has independently reached orbit
Indian Space Policy 2023 and IN-SPACe
The Indian Space Policy, notified in April 2023, formally opened up the entire space value chain — from satellite building to launch vehicles to ground stations — to Non-Government Entities (NGEs), ending the earlier arrangement in which ISRO alone could build and fly orbital rockets. It designates IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre) as the single-window, autonomous nodal agency responsible for authorising, promoting, and supervising space activities carried out by private players.
Key Details
- IN-SPACe was established in 2020 as an autonomous body under the Department of Space, ahead of the 2023 policy that formalised its role
- The Indian Space Policy 2023 codifies a four-tier structure: Department of Space (policy), ISRO (R&D and frontier missions), IN-SPACe (authorisation and promotion of private activity), and NSIL (commercial arm)
- IN-SPACe's functions include issuing authorisations, providing access to ISRO facilities/infrastructure to NGEs, and creating a "level playing field" regulatory framework
- IN-SPACe had earlier authorised Skyroot's suborbital Vikram-S flight (2022) and Agnikul Cosmos's Agnibaan SOrTeD demonstrator, launched from a private launchpad at Sriharikota in May 2024
IN-SPACe's authorisation was the regulatory prerequisite that allowed a purely private company, rather than ISRO or its commercial arm, to independently conduct an orbital launch from Indian soil.
NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) — Commercial Arm vs Regulator
NSIL is the Government of India's commercial arm for the space sector, distinct from IN-SPACe's regulatory/authorisation role. NSIL was created to commercially exploit ISRO's research and productionise vehicles like the PSLV and SSLV through Indian industry, and to market ISRO-origin technology and launch services on a demand-driven basis.
Key Details
- NSIL was incorporated on March 6, 2019, as a Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) under the Department of Space
- NSIL's mandate includes productionisation of PSLV/SSLV through industry consortia and marketing India's space-based products and services commercially, including OneWeb constellation launches on the LVM3 (2022-23)
- Unlike NSIL-brokered commercial missions, Vikram-1 was designed, built, and flown entirely by a private company, marking a step beyond the NSIL-mediated commercialisation model
- NSIL and IN-SPACe together operationalise the Indian Space Policy 2023's division of roles between "commercial enabler" and "regulator/authoriser"
Vikram-1's flight shows India's space reforms progressing from NSIL-brokered use of government vehicles by private entities toward fully private-built and privately operated orbital rockets.
The Global Private Orbital Launch Landscape
Only a small number of countries have seen a privately developed rocket (built and operated by a non-government company, without the vehicle itself being a government design) independently reach orbit. This capability is distinct from countries having a government space programme; it specifically measures private industrial capacity to design, manufacture, and fly an orbital-class vehicle.
Key Details
- United States: SpaceX's Falcon 1 became the first privately developed, liquid-fuelled rocket to reach orbit on September 28, 2008, on its fourth attempt, later leading to the Falcon 9 and Starship programmes
- China: iSpace's solid-fuelled Hyperbola-1 became the first Chinese private rocket to reach orbit on July 25, 2019, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center
- India: Skyroot's Vikram-1 became the first Indian private rocket to reach orbit, placing a payload into a ~450 km LEO
- Other Chinese private players (such as LandSpace, which flew the world's first methane-oxygen rocket to reach orbit in 2023) have since expanded China's private launch base
Vikram-1 places India in an exclusive club of countries with demonstrated private orbital launch capability, a marker increasingly used to assess a nation's depth of indigenous aerospace-industrial capacity rather than only its government space agency's achievements.
India's Space Economy Ambitions
The Indian government has set an explicit target for India's share of the global commercial space economy, treating private launch capability as core infrastructure for satellite manufacturing, launch services, Earth observation, and downstream space-based applications.
Key Details
- India's space economy is currently valued at roughly $9 billion, with a stated ambition to grow to around $44 billion by 2033, targeting close to 8% of the projected global space economy (estimated to exceed $900 billion by 2033)
- Over 300 registered private space startups are currently active in India across launch vehicles, satellites, propulsion, and downstream analytics
- Private Indian space startups raised nearly $150 million in FY2025 alone, taking cumulative sector funding beyond $600 million
- Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) norms for the space sector were liberalised in 2024 to permit higher automatic-route investment in satellite manufacturing and launch vehicle segments
An operational private orbital launcher is a prerequisite for India's stated goal of becoming a global commercial launch hub, since it allows Indian companies to bid for international smallsat launch contracts rather than depending solely on ISRO/NSIL vehicles.
- IN-SPACe established: 2020, under the Department of Space; Indian Space Policy notified: April 2023
- Four-tier space governance structure: Department of Space, ISRO, IN-SPACe, NSIL
- NSIL incorporated: March 6, 2019
- First privately developed rocket to reach orbit (globally): SpaceX's Falcon 1, September 28, 2008 (USA)
- First Chinese private orbital launch: iSpace's Hyperbola-1, July 25, 2019
- India's space economy: approximately $9 billion currently; targeted at approximately $44 billion (~8% global share) by 2033
- Over 300 active private space startups in India; sector funding crossed roughly $600 million cumulatively as of FY2025