Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday virtually inaugurated Indian space startup Skyroot’s Infinity Campus in Hyderabad.
PM Modi also unveiled Skyroot’s first orbital rocket, Vikram-I, with the capability to launch satellites to orbit.
The state-of-the-art facility will have around 2,00,000 square feet of workspace for designing, developing, integrating and testing multiple launch vehicles, with a capacity to build one orbital rocket every month.
In his address, the PM pointed out the government’s ‘historic’ space reforms and said that opening up the space sector to private players has resulted in Skyroot and others coming up with such innovations.
Skyroot is India’s leading private space company, founded by Pawan Chandana and Bharath Dhaka, both alumni of the Indian Institutes of Technology and former ISRO scientists turned entrepreneurs.
In November 2022, Skyroot launched its sub-orbital rocket, Vikram-S, becoming the first Indian private company to launch a rocket to space.
“The Infinity Campus is a reflection of India’s new thought, innovation and the bigger youth power. Youth’s innovation, risk-taking ability and entrepreneurship are touching new heights,” the PM noted.
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Modi said that today in India’s space ecosystem, the private sector is emerging with flying colours and over 300 space startups are giving new hope to the sector.
He recalled the evolution of India’s space programme—from its humble beginnings, when rocket components were transported on a bicycle, to the creation of today’s “most trusted launch vehicle.”
