India’s first privately developed rocket reaches orbit on dramatic debut launch

印度首枚私营火箭首飞即告捷，成功进入预定轨道

Indian space officials celebrated the debut flight of Skyroot Aerospace’s Vikram-1 rocket, India’s first fully commercial satellite launcher, as a “grand success” Saturday after an on-target climb into a 280-mile-high orbit following liftoff from an island spaceport in the Bay of Bengal. 周六，印度航天官员庆祝了 Skyroot Aerospace 公司 Vikram-1 火箭的首飞。作为印度首枚完全商业化的卫星运载火箭，它在孟加拉湾的一座岛屿航天发射场升空后，精准进入了 280 英里（约 450 公里）高的轨道，被官方誉为“巨大的成功”。

The Vikram-1 lifted off from India’s primary spaceport on Sriharikota Island at 1:35 am EDT (06:35 UTC) Saturday, around midday at the launch base along India’s southeast coast. The launch was delayed more than a half-hour to resolve a last-minute technical problem. The countdown resumed, culminating in the command to ignite Vikram-1’s solid-fueled first stage booster to propel the rocket off the launch pad. Vikram-1 于周六凌晨 1:35（美国东部时间，协调世界时 06:35）从印度主要的航天发射场——斯里赫里戈达岛（Sriharikota Island）升空，当时正值印度东南海岸发射基地的中午时分。由于最后一刻出现技术问题，发射推迟了半个多小时。倒计时恢复后，随着点火指令下达，Vikram-1 的固体燃料一级助推器成功点火，将火箭推离发射台。

Vikram-1 is modest in size compared to India’s larger workhorse rockets. Skyroot’s rocket stands about 72 feet (22 meters) tall, with the capability to place payloads of up to 770 pounds (350 kilograms) into low-Earth orbit. This makes Vikram-1 somewhat larger than the Electron launch vehicle developed by Rocket Lab, the world’s most successful dedicated small satellite launcher. 与印度的大型主力火箭相比，Vikram-1 的体型较为小巧。Skyroot 的这枚火箭高约 72 英尺（22 米），具备将重达 770 磅（350 公斤）的载荷送入近地轨道的能力。这使得 Vikram-1 比 Rocket Lab 公司开发的 Electron 运载火箭（全球最成功的小型卫星专用运载火箭）略大一些。

The flight Saturday went off without any major problems. Three solid-fueled rocket motors fired in succession to reach space, then a small liquid-fueled fourth stage ignited and accelerated to orbital velocity, some 17,000 mph. Live views from onboard cameras showed each phase of the launch sequence. The only sign of anything unusual came during the separation of the rocket’s third stage from its fourth stage. The spent third stage motor appeared to remain near the fourth stage during a brief coast, rather than backing away to a greater distance. 周六的飞行过程没有出现重大问题。三台固体燃料火箭发动机依次点火，将火箭送入太空，随后小型液体燃料第四级发动机点火，加速至约 17,000 英里/小时的轨道速度。机载摄像头直播了发射过程的每一个阶段。唯一异常的迹象出现在火箭第三级与第四级分离时：耗尽燃料的第三级发动机在短暂的滑行过程中似乎仍停留在第四级附近，而没有拉开更大的距离。

Nevertheless, the fourth stage did its job, firing its 3D-printed engine to reach an orbit approximately 280 miles (450 kilometers) high at an inclination of 60 degrees to the equator, quite close to preflight predictions, according to Skyroot Aerospace. US military tracking data confirmed the rocket’s successful arrival in orbit. 尽管如此，第四级发动机仍完成了任务，通过点燃其 3D 打印发动机，成功进入了距离地面约 280 英里（450 公里）、倾角为 60 度的轨道。据 Skyroot Aerospace 称，这一结果与飞行前的预测非常接近。美国军方的跟踪数据也证实了火箭已成功入轨。

Beating the odds

逆势突围

“We achieved one of the biggest milestones ever in India’s space sector—the first private orbital rocket reaching orbit on the very first attempt,” said Pawan Kumar Chandana, Skyroot’s cofounder and CEO, in remarks to the company’s launch team. “It still feels like a dream, and you all made this dream happen.” “我们实现了印度航天史上最大的里程碑之一——首枚私营轨道火箭在首次尝试中就成功入轨，”Skyroot 联合创始人兼首席执行官 Pawan Kumar Chandana 在对公司发射团队发表讲话时说，“这感觉仍然像是一场梦，而你们所有人让这个梦想成为了现实。”

The first flights of new private orbital-class rockets don’t have a great track record. It took SpaceX four tries before reaching orbit with the Falcon 1 rocket for the first time in 2008. Rocket Lab’s Electron didn’t make it to orbit on its first launch in 2017. Blue Origin beat the odds with the inaugural flight of its heavy-lift New Glenn rocket in 2025, but the company’s engineers had previous experience with numerous launches of the smaller New Shepard suborbital rocket. 新型私营轨道级火箭的首飞记录并不理想。SpaceX 的猎鹰 1 号火箭在 2008 年首次成功入轨前，经历了四次尝试。Rocket Lab 的 Electron 火箭在 2017 年的首飞中也未能入轨。蓝色起源（Blue Origin）在 2025 年凭借其重型运载火箭“新格伦”（New Glenn）的首飞打破了这一魔咒，但该公司的工程师此前已拥有多次小型“新谢泼德”（New Shepard）亚轨道火箭的发射经验。

“On the first attempt, reaching orbit, I never thought it was possible,” Chandana said. “Skyroot’s team made it possible. A big, big, big shoutout to this phenomenal team, which made it happen. In fact, this launch was nothing short of a suspense movie.” “在第一次尝试中就进入轨道，我从未想过这是可能的，”Chandana 说，“是 Skyroot 的团队让这一切成为可能。我要向这支非凡的团队致以最崇高的敬意。事实上，这次发射简直就像一部悬疑电影。”

Skyroot officials set humble goals for the first launch of Vikram-1. In a press kit released before the flight, the company said its primary objective for the launch was to complete a successful liftoff, clear the tower at the launch site, and gather maximum data during ascent. Skyroot 官员为 Vikram-1 的首次发射设定了谦逊的目标。在飞行前发布的新闻资料中，该公司表示，此次发射的主要目标是完成成功的升空、脱离发射塔，并在上升过程中收集尽可能多的数据。

“The mission objective was only to lift off and clear the tower,” said Pawan Goenka, chairman of IN-SPACe, a government organization set up in 2020 to promote India’s commercial space industry. “That was only about 100 meters, but what we went to was 450 kilometers, and it also released all the satellites that were supposed to release. So the mission was absolutely perfect.” “任务目标仅仅是升空并脱离发射塔，”IN-SPACe 主席 Pawan Goenka 表示。IN-SPACe 是印度政府于 2020 年成立的旨在促进商业航天工业发展的组织。“那（脱离发射塔）只有大约 100 米，但我们最终达到了 450 公里，并且还释放了所有预定释放的卫星。所以这次任务绝对是完美的。”

In a statement, the Indian space agency, ISRO, said it offered “handholding and support” to the Skyroot venture by providing access to solid rocket motor casting and test facilities at ISRO’s spaceport on Sriharikota. ISRO also allowed Skyroot to launch from one of its two active launch pads. 印度空间研究组织（ISRO）在一份声明中表示，通过向 Skyroot 提供位于斯里赫里戈达岛航天发射场的固体火箭发动机铸造和测试设施，ISRO 为该项目提供了“扶持与支持”。ISRO 还允许 Skyroot 使用其两个现役发射台之一进行发射。

Painted blue and white, the Vikram-1 is made of lightweight carbon composite materials and is named for the Indian physicist Vikram Sarabhai, considered the father of the Indian space program. Skyroot successfully launched a suborbital rocket, Vikram-S, to an altitude of nearly 300,000 feet (90 kilometers) in November 2022. The Vikram-1 builds on lessons learned with Vikram-S. Vikram-1 采用蓝白配色，由轻质碳复合材料制成，以被誉为“印度航天之父”的物理学家维克拉姆·萨拉巴伊（Vikram Sarabhai）的名字命名。2022 年 11 月，Skyroot 成功发射了一枚名为 Vikram-S 的亚轨道火箭，高度达到近 30 万英尺（90 公里）。Vikram-1 正是在 Vikram-S 的经验基础上研发的。

Skyroot’s future roadmap includes the Vikram-1U, with additional strap-on solid rocket boosters to haul heavier payloads, and the Vikram-2, which will debut a cryogenic upper stage to reach a payload capacity of 2,000 pounds (900 kilograms) to low-Earth orbit. Skyroot 未来的路线图包括 Vikram-1U（增加捆绑式固体火箭助推器以运载更重载荷）以及 Vikram-2（将首次采用低温上面级，使近地轨道运载能力达到 2,000 磅/900 公斤）。

The initial purpose of the Vikram rocket family is to “deliver dedicated and responsive launch services for small satellites,” Skyroot officials wrote in the press kit for Saturday’s mission. But the company has loftier ambitions. In an interview ahead of the first Vikram-1 launch, Chandana told Ars his aspiration for Skyroot involves larger liquid-fueled fully reusable rockets, with a “daily cadence” from multiple countries. Skyroot 在周六任务的新闻资料中写道，Vikram 火箭家族的初衷是“为小型卫星提供专用且响应迅速的发射服务”。但该公司有着更宏大的抱负。在 Vikram-1 首次发射前的一次采访中，Chandana 告诉 Ars，他对 Skyroot 的愿景包括研发更大的液体燃料完全可重复使用火箭，并实现从多个国家进行“每日发射”的频率。

Skyroot will need a lot more funding to realize that dream, but Saturday’s launch showed the company has ingredients required for a successful launch company. Saturday’s launch vaulted Skyroot to a plane above any other space startup in India, or, for that matter, in any country outside of the United States and China. Skyroot 需要更多的资金来实现这一梦想，但周六的发射表明，该公司已经具备了成为一家成功发射公司所需的要素。周六的发射使 Skyroot 的地位跃升至印度其他任何航天初创公司之上，甚至在美中两国之外的任何国家中也处于领先地位。