‘Taxi to space’: How this Indian startup wants to revolutionize satellite space travel

‘Taxi to space’: How this Indian startup wants to revolutionize satellite space travel

India is one of the leading spacefaring countries in the world. It is the first Asian country to reach the orbit of Mars, and the fourth on the planet to take a spacecraft to the moon, landing closer to the south pole, famous for its cratered terrain, than anyone else has.

But its private sector has played a limited role in space exploration, acting mostly as a supplier and vendor for its national space agency, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

That is changing quickly, following a series of government reforms aimed at increasing private participation in the space sector. In the United States, the proliferation of private companies such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX has boosted Washington’s space ambitions by reducing costs.

Now homegrown Indian startups like Skyroot Aerospace, which is launching the country’s first private rocket in 2022, are leading efforts to commercialize India’s space sector and cement its status as a space superpower.

Inside an immaculate rocket hanger in the southern city of Hyderabad, the company is preparing to lift the seven-storey Vikram-1 rocket, which will carry the first privately launched satellite into orbit.

“That will be a milestone for us,” Pawan Chandana, a former ISRO scientist who founded Skyroot Aerospace in 2018, told CNN. “Very few companies in the entire world can afford to orbit anymore.”
India is pushing pioneering national initiatives, including plans to have its own space station by 2035 and put an Indian astronaut on the moon by 2040.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, now running for a third consecutive term, has made major efforts to commercialize space activities in recent years, including allowing private enterprises to participate and easing approvals for foreign investment into the space sector.

Small satellite, big opportunity
Companies around the world are launching thousands of satellites into low-Earth orbit (LEO), which extend to an altitude of about 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles), to form mega-constellations: groups of small satellites that work together to beam broadband Internet to consumer land.

According to analytics firm BryceTech, 96% of spacecraft launched in 2022 will be small satellites, up from 61% in 2013.

That drives exponential growth. The global space economy will be worth $630 billion in 2023, according to a report by McKinsey & Company and the World Economic Forum, and it could grow to $1.8 trillion by 2035.

It’s the small satellite market that Skyroot wants to capture, with plans to offer custom launches for satellites under 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds).

The organization’s satellites often hitchhike on “rideshare” missions. Last year, for example, one SpaceX trip – powered by its Falcon 9 rocket, which can carry 22,000 kilograms (48,500 pounds) to LEO – launched 51 small satellites into orbit for several companies.

But there’s often a waiting period for boarding, and satellites can only go where the rocket is headed. That might be a disadvantage for satellites that want to reach certain orbits, to observe certain parts of the planet.

The model does provide advantages. SpaceX says the cost to get a 500-kilogram (1,100-pound) payload into LEO is about $6,000 a kilogram.

“It’s really very, very competitive what SpaceX is offering right now,” said Susmita Mohanty, director general of Indian think tank Spaceport Sarabhai.

Skyroot wants to offer dedicated launches for $20,000 per kilogram, which is significantly more expensive than SpaceX’s less-booked service. (Chandana says that mass production and better technology may allow for further cost reductions).

Chandana compared SpaceX’s ride-sharing mission to “a train to space” and Skyroot’s operation to “a taxi to space, where we take satellites to their custom locations.”

He added: “We’re not in direct competition with SpaceX, because SpaceX is interested in larger vehicles and satellites … and what we’re interested in is custom launch solutions.”

Once prices come down, there will be more interest in “people who want to choose a dedicated launch without compromising to go for a rideshare mission,” he said.

Custom launches may be useful for those looking to send smaller payloads that aim to reach a “diverse amount of orbits” that might not be possible with ride-sharing, said Kari Bingen, director of Projek Aerospace Security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a US-based think tank.

That could be useful for commercial companies, academic institutions or governments willing to pay the price, he added.

Chandana is optimistic he can make it more affordable, noting “frugality is in the DNA” of India’s space program. (The budget for the country’s Mars orbiter is just $74 million. Modi has insisted that it costs less than the Hollywood sci-fi thriller “Gravity.”)

Chandana added that the company aims to build reusa rocket eventually, a capability that has helped SpaceX reduce launch costs.

Obstacles to clear
India is now home to nearly 200 space startups, up from just one in 2014, according to a report published by Deloitte in 2023. During the same period, private investment into such companies exceeded $200 million.

Skyroot has raised $95 million, with backers such as Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC. That makes it India’s most funded space startup, according to data platform Tracxn.

But the company has work to do to achieve profitability. It needs to demonstrate that it can consistently reach orbit, before the benefits “will turn into contracts, which will help us scale,” Chandana said. But the place at Vikram-1 was fully booked, with a mix of domestic and international customers.

As India’s space startup matures over the next few years, he expects the government to become a customer, enabling further growth. Many private space companies derive income from the government, including Space X, which has raked in billions of dollars from US government contracts.

The Indian government allocated just under $1.6 billion to develop the space program in the interim budget of 2024. In comparison, NASA received $24.9 billion for 2024.

“Unless and until the government supports reforms with substantial funding coming from India itself, it will be difficult for us to compete with the development of the US market or the Chinese market,” said Mohanty.

He added that for Indian startups to play a meaningful role in the global market, “they need to go beyond the domestic mandated services of our own space agency and start bidding for contracts.”

Chandana took up the challenge. “We want to be globally [one of] the top three launch companies,” he said. “My fascination with rockets has become an obsession.”