In a major development in the aerospace field, India’s private space agency Skyroot has now successfully tested Vikram 1. Skyroot, in a tweet, announced the successful completion of ‘full duration static fire test’ of Vikram-1 rocket stage ‘Kalam-100’. Notably, Vikram 1 is now the largest rocket stage completely designed, manufactured, and tested by the Indian private sector. According to the agency, the test was done on 5 May, 2022 at Solar Industries, Nagpur.
“We’re fired up to announce our successful completion of full duration static fire test of Vikram-1 rocket stage ‘Kalam-100’,” Skyroot Aerospace said in a tweet on Thursday. Further mentioning the details, it added, “Peak Thrust: ~10Tons. Carbon Fiber Built. Burn time: 108s,” in the tweet. The private agency also shared the link to a YouTube video showcasing the test. It also shared an image of the rocket stage being tested in its tweet.
Named after Indian scientist and former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, ‘Kalam-100’ is the third stage of the Orbital vehicle Vikram-1 that has now completed a successful static test. According to Skyroot, the stage produces a peak vacuum thrust of 100 kN (or ~10Tons), and has a burn time of 108 sec. The agency further detailed the stage in a statement and added that a ‘good match of test results was obtained from the test.
“State-of-the-art technologies like carbon composite case, high propellant volumetric loading upto 94%, lighter EPDM based thermal protection system, and submerged nozzle have been validated through the successful static test proving very high reliability of the stage, with no moving parts and high level of automation in manufacturing,” Skyroot aerospace said in a statement. “This is yet the largest rocket stage ever designed, manufactured, and tested completely in the Indian private sector,” the agency added.
The successful test of the orbital vehicle Vikram-1 comes only a week after the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully completed the static test of a human-rated solid rocket booster (HS200) at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota. The test was done last week for its Gaganyaan programme. The heavy-lift launcher, GSLV MkIII’s identification and the process for a human rating of GSLV MkIII for India’s historic space mission was completed in 2020.
The recently tested HS200 rocket booster is the human-rated version of the well-proven S200 rocket booster of GSLV-Mk3 satellite launch vehicle or the LVM3 for ISRO’s Rs 10,000 crores space project. Gaganayaan would be the Indian orbital spacecraft for ISRO’s Indian Human Spaceflight Programme (IHSP) that will launch orbital spacecraft into low earth orbit in 2023.