Context:
Recently, India’s first privately developed launch vehicle, Vikram-S, blasted off on its maiden flight from the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO’s) Sriharikota .
Relevance:
GS III: Science and Technology
Dimensions of the Article:
- About Vikram-S
- Prarambh mission
Vikram-S
- Vikram-S is India’s first privately developed rocket and is all set to be launched as part of the Prarambh space mission.
- It is a single-stage sub-orbital launch vehicle which would carry three customer payloads.
- Sub-orbital flight are those vehicles which are travelling slower than the orbital velocity – meaning it is fast enough to reach outer space but not fast enough to stay in an orbit around the Earth.
- It would help test and validate the majority of the technologies in the Vikram series of space launch vehicles.
- It was developed by the Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace.
Prarambh mission:
- The Prarambh mission is aimed at carrying three payloads into space, including a 2.5-kilogram payload that has been developed by students from several countries.
- Skyroot’s launch vehicles are named ‘Vikram’ as a tribute to the founder of the Indian space program and renowned scientist Vikram Sarabhai.
- The Prarambh mission and the Vikram-S rocket were developed by the Hyderabad-based startup with extensive support from Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre).
-Source: Indian Express