On 18 July 2026, a private Indian company sent its own rocket to orbit for the first time. Skyroot Aerospace — a Hyderabad startup founded in 2018 by two former ISRO engineers — launched Vikram-1 from Sriharikota and placed customer satellites in orbit. India is now only the third country, after the US and China, where a private company has done this on its own.
For sixty years, only ISRO could send anything from India to space. Vikram-1 is being sold as a “cab service” for satellites — customers pick their exact orbit and schedule, unlike a rideshare where they must adjust to someone else’s destination.
The engineering is proven. Whether the business will make money is the next test — and that is where this analysis spends most of its time. This is a standalone piece, so every concept below is explained in place.