Skyroot readies India's maiden private rocket launch in January

Three years after India opened up its space sector to private companies, Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace will conduct its first commercial satellite launch in January, becoming the only Indian entity other than Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) to accomplish the feat.

- Shouvik Das

Co-founded by two former Isro scientists, the country's most-funded space startup is targetting one launch every three months next year, and one every month from 2027. Each launch mission is expected to fetch nearly $5 million, chief executive Pawan Chandana said.

"Making a single rocket takes about eight to nine months, and costs us $2-3 million. As we build scale, this cost and time will both reduce. Our revenue expectation per launch is about double that of the cost of making a rocket," said Chandana. "We'll start realizing operating revenue from the (first) launch itself, which will have a couple of paying satellite customers onboard."