According to a report, Skyroot Aerospace announced on Friday that it had raised $51 million (roughly Rs. 400 crores) from a Singapore-based investor. According to reports, the funding will be used to build the country’s first private space launch vehicles (SLV) and to accelerate the company’s plans to launch heavy payloads into low-Earth orbit. According to a report, it plans to begin commercial satellite launches by mid-2023 and has a data and expertise sharing agreement with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
According to Reuters, the Hyderabad-based startup Skyroot Aerospace announced on Friday that it had raised $51 million (roughly Rs. 400 crores) from capital investment firm GIC (the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation), which led its latest round of funding. According to reports, the company hopes to reach a full-fledged commercial satellite launch scale within a year.
Skyroot Aerospace is said to want to start commercial satellite launches in mid-2023. Its SLV is said to be made of carbon fiber and can carry payloads weighing up to 800kg. According to the report, the company has begun to reserve launch slots for payloads.
In June, the country’s space saw significant events in privatization initiatives. According to PTI, these included ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) carrying payloads from two Indian space sector startups, as well as the launch of the first demand-driven satellite ordered by Tata Play.
According to the report, an earlier study by the Centre for Development Studies and the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology estimated India’s space economy at $ 5 billion (roughly Rs. 39,860 crores) for the 2020-21 fiscal year.
