PM unveils Skyroot's orbital rocket in Hyd, praises youth for creating new tech

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday unveiled space startup Skyroot's first orbital rocket and praised Gen Z professionals for creating new technologies.

The PM virtually inaugurated Skyroot's Infinity Campus here. The company's orbital rocket Vikram-I has the capability to launch satellites to orbit.

Modi said today, Gen Z engineers, Gen Z designers, Gen Z coders and Gen Z scientists are creating new technologies.

In his address, the PM highlighted the government's 'historic' space reforms and said that opening up the space sector to private players has resulted in Skyroot and others coming up with such innovations.

The PM said that today in India's space ecosystem, private sector was emerging with flying colours. Over 300 space startups were giving new hopes to the sector.

"The Infinity Campus is a reflection of India's new thought, innovation and the bigger youth power. Youth's innovation, risk taking-ability and entrepreneurship are touching new heights," the PM noted.

"India's private space talent is making its own identity in the world. Today, India's space sector is becoming an attractive destination for global investors. Today, the demand for small satellites is increasing rapidly in the world," Modi said.

He traced the journey of the Indian space programme from its nascent stages-- where rocket parts were moved in a bicycle to building the "most trusted launch vehicle."

The journey might have started with limited resources but the growth proved determination decides dreams, Modi said.

In these changing times, the space sector is expanding so much, covering the areas of communication, weather prediction, urban planning and national security, among others. "So that is why we have made historic reforms in space sector, opened it up to the private sector, made new space policy. Startups and industry were linked with innovation, set up In-Space," he said.

He further said plans were there to open up the nuclear sector also to private players.

Skyroot's state-of-the-art facility will have around two lakh sq.ft. workspace for designing, developing, integrating and testing multiple launch vehicles, with a capacity to build one orbital rocket every month.

Skyroot is India's leading private space company founded by Pawan Chandana and Bharath Dhaka, both IIT alumni and former scientists of ISRO. In November 2022, Skyroot launched its sub-orbital rocket, Vikram-S, becoming the first Indian private company to do so.