Skyroot's Vikram-1 is 'Uber to space', here is why the founders say so

India's private space journey enters a defining chapter as Skyroot Aerospace launches Vikram-1, the country's first privately developed orbital launch vehicle. Four years after making history with the successful launch of the sub-orbital Vikram-S, the Hyderabad-based startup is now attempting a much bigger milestone—placing satellites into orbit and challenging established players in the global commercial launch market.

The company was founded in 2018 by former ISRO scientists Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka, who left secure government careers to build a private rocket company at a time when India's space sector had not yet been opened to private players. Today, backed by leading global investors and often described as India's answer to SpaceX, Skyroot is betting that the fast-growing small-satellite market will drive the next phase of the global space economy.

In an interview with Onmanorama, Skyroot co-founder and CEO Pawan Kumar Chandana explains why he compares Vikram-1 to "an Uber to space," how the company plans to solve the growing shortage of dedicated launch services for small satellites, what makes Vikram-1 different from competing launch vehicles, and how Skyroot plans to scale commercial launches after its maiden orbital mission.

You've compared Vikram-1 to "an Uber to go to space." What does that mean in practical terms for customers?
It means a dedicated, on-demand launch; you choose the destination and the schedule. Today, most small-satellite operators travel by "bus"; they buy a seat on a large rideshare mission that goes where the primary payload is going, when it's going. If your satellite needs a different orbit, or you are on a tight timeline, you wait, sometimes for a year or more. Vikram-1 is the cab. You tell us the orbit you need and when you need to be there, and we take you precisely to that point, on your timeline, not someone else's. For a customer, that's the difference between fitting your mission around a shared ride and having the whole vehicle work for you.

Why is the small-satellite market such a big opportunity right now, and where does Vikram-1 fit into that demand curve?
Two things are happening at once. Demand is exploding, the number of satellites in orbit is expected to grow several-fold this decade, driven by earth-observation and communications constellations, and the next wave of digital infrastructure, like 6G and IoT, will be built on these constellations. Because those satellites have limited lifespans, they have to be continuously replenished, so this isn't a one-time surge; it's a sustained, recurring demand. And supply hasn't kept up. Existing launch capacity meets only about half of the demand for small-satellite launch, and wait times run into years. Vikram-1 sits right in that gap, a dedicated small-lift vehicle built for exactly the customers who can't get a timely, precise ride today.

With several private launch providers emerging globally, what makes Vikram-1 stand out for satellite operators? Is it in terms of cost/reliability or launch frequency?
It's the combination. On cost, we build almost everything in-house and in India, which gives us a genuine structural advantage, carbon-composite structures, our own solid motors, and 3D-printed engines. On reliability, our engineering choices are deliberate; for example, our stages separate using a pneumatic, pressurised-gas system instead of explosive charges, which is gentler on the customer's satellite and crucially can be tested on the ground repeatedly before flight, which most systems can't. And on frequency, we built for scale from day one, with manufacturing capacity designed for a high launch cadence rather than one-off rockets. But the real differentiator for a customer is dedicated access, the exact orbit, on their schedule, which very few providers offer for small satellites, and even fewer outside the US and China. And there's a trust dimension, the world is actively looking for reliable launch options that aren't a single provider or China, and India is well-positioned to be that partner.

After Vikram-1's maiden successful launch, what are the immediate next milestones for Skyroot, and how quickly can you scale up launch operations?
The maiden flight proves the vehicle; the next phase is turning that into a repeatable, commercial service. In the near term, that means moving through our development flights and into commercial operations, building the reliability track record that lets international customers commit to multi-launch agreements. We have built the manufacturing base for this, the capacity to produce at cadence rather than one rocket at a time and our roadmap moves toward a regular launch rhythm and, in parallel, our next, larger vehicle to serve heavier payloads. The honest answer on speed is that cadence is earned flight by flight. You scale as you prove reliability. But the infrastructure and the demand are both already there; what we are doing now is closing the loop between them.